The FHShader node uses OGSFX files to render geometry with VP2. On export these files are parsed into individual files of the type of vertex and fragment shaders (glsl) used by the game engine. The goal was to create a node that was as WYSIWYG as possible. Minimizing the difference between how something appears in the game and while it is being designed is key to making what that the player sees as cool as possible.

Writing a Maya node plugin for the first time was daunting but as usual, detailed logging and careful debugging saved the day. It was exceedingly convenient to be able to map out the life cycle of a node via call stacks and text files after Maya crashed or was stalled because of something I broke.

I didn’t expect to have to write code for things like the UV Editor and sample thumbnail but I am sure the extra flexibility will come in handy in some future iteration.