NXSG 1.5 · Layered surfaces and cost estimates

New

• Layered PBR Surface adds clearcoat with its own roughness and normal, plus colored velvet sheen. Unconnected zero weights omit their shading and auxiliary inputs. Connected controls remain dynamic.
• Cost shows reachable nodes, texture sample sites, static passes, loop budgets and geometry estimates. Click a listed node to inspect it. These are static estimates, not GPU timings.
• Lacquered Surface and Velvet Fabric examples are included in the gallery.

Fixes

• Deleted node thumbnails release their Unity resources even when preview is paused.
• Malformed parameter, texture and type references return diagnostics instead of throwing during validation.
• Disabled surface layers no longer demand unused LTCGI dependencies, texture bindings or wireframe geometry.
• Wireframe is rejected on all generated-particle input paths, including newly added numeric sockets.
• Packaging rejects forgotten files and preserves existing release artifacts when a conflicting version is rejected.

Checked

Portable graph/backend checks, all 11 packaging tests, hidden Unity render and UI tests, build rollback and scene synchronization passed. Windows-target D3D11 compilation passed 16 shaders. Native Windows rendering and live VRChat/headset behavior were not tested in this pass.

Update through the NXSG VPM listing, or install the attached package ZIP. Rebuild graphs to regenerate their shaders.

NXSG 1.4 · Color tools and editor responsiveness

Editor responsiveness

• Wire drawing uses direct socket lookup. Dragging a node caches compatible insertion targets and skips distant curves.
• Node movement reuses layout records; box selection uses set lookup.
• Scene-change hashing waits until editing pauses, and thumbnails share one graph hash per update.
• Scalar edits keep inspector fields alive instead of rebuilding the graph UI. Rejected nonfinite values return to the previous display.

Color tools

• Color Mask selects pixels near a target RGB color, with tolerance and softness.
• Replace Color recolors that selection, with an animatable factor and preserved input alpha.
• Hue Shift and Color Adjust switch from their headers. Both have a reset for unconnected controls and clearer control help.

Validated with portable/package checks and Unity 2022.3.22f1 on Linux/OpenGL: GPU color results, inspector interactions, insertion/Undo and scene synchronization. In a 150-node/148-wire fixture, 1,000 cached insertion-target updates took 138.6 ms. This is not a whole-editor speedup measurement. Native Windows and live VRChat validation remain separate.

NXSG 1.3 · Hue color spaces

Hue color spaces

• Select HSV or OKLab on Hue Shift and Color Adjust. Existing graphs keep HSV.
• OKLab preserves alpha and leaves HDR/out-of-gamut results unclamped. Gamma projects convert through linear sRGB.
• Neutral Color Adjust controls still compile away; hue space is selected when the shader is generated.

Validated with portable checks, package tests, and rendered shader checks in Unity 2022.3.22f1 on Linux/OpenGL. Native Windows and live VRChat testing remain separate.

NXSG 1.2 · Color Adjust

Color Adjust

Hue, Saturation, Lift, Gamma, Gain, Contrast, and Exposure in one Color-category node. Each adjustment has a numeric input socket.

Unconnected neutral settings emit no adjustment math. Connected values remain active even at neutral defaults, preserving animation and AudioLink behavior. Alpha is preserved, and signed HDR values remain unclamped. Gamma is protected against zero/negative divisors.

Existing Hue Shift and Saturation nodes remain compatible. Unity GPU checks cover neutral output, animated hue, gamma, gain, HDR exposure and alpha preservation; portable checks cover specialization and graph validation.

NXSG 1.1 · Hue Shift

Hue Shift

New Color-category node with Color and Hue inputs and a Color output. Hue is measured in turns: 0 leaves the color unchanged, 1/3 rotates red to green, and 1 returns to the original hue. Negative and larger typed values wrap. Alpha, grayscale and HDR range are preserved.

Connect Time, AudioLink, or a material parameter to Hue for animation. Find it by searching Hue, HSV, or rainbow.

NX Shader Graph 1.0

NX Shader Graph 1.0

The first stable NXSG release is available through ALCOM and Creator Companion. Prerelease packages no longer need to be enabled.

Included

• Toon, PBR and Unlit material graphs, procedural textures, AudioLink inputs, and animation controls.
• Fur, particles, shell layers, tessellation, and raymarched volumes.
• The refreshed graphite editor, solid type-colored node headers, and NX accents.
• Readable generated shader names, named texture slots, reusable Patterns, and example graphs.

This release promotes the alpha.31 feature set to stable distribution. Existing graphs and generated material references are preserved.

Install or update

Add or refresh https://nerdrx.github.io/nxsg/index.json in ALCOM or Creator Companion, then install NX Shader Graph 1.0.0. Existing prerelease installations can update to this version.

Compatibility

Unity 2022.3.22f1, Built-In Render Pipeline, PC VRChat target. Development and editor testing take place on Linux. Native Windows/D3D, headset, live VRChat, AudioLink and VRCFury validation remain incomplete. Quest/mobile avatars are not supported. The stable release designation does not extend these platform validation claims.

See the repository compatibility and validation documentation for effect-specific limits.

alpha.31 · Readable shader names

Readable shader names

Generated shader names now include the source graph filename: NXSG/NixomiBody/<unique ID>.

Rebuild an existing graph to update its shader name. Generated asset paths, material references, and GUIDs stay unchanged. Saved presets continue to recognize the same graph, including presets made before this change. Spaces and punctuation are replaced with underscores in the shader menu name.

alpha.30 · Editor button alignment

Editor styling

Graphite panels, crisp node cards, and richer, solid type-colored headers based on the approved editor concept. NX violet highlights Build for VRChat, selection, and active controls. The canvas has a subdued dot grid, and particle settings have clear section headings.

Checked in Unity 2022.3.22f1 on Linux with wide and 850×500 layouts, preview collapse, numeric field bounds, and the connected-node picker. Shader and graph semantics are unchanged. Windows and other display scales remain unverified.

Button labels are vertically centered across toolbars, tabs, inspector actions, and node menus; native top/bottom padding is reset.

alpha.29 · Graphite editor

Editor styling

Graphite panels, crisp node cards, and richer, solid type-colored headers based on the approved editor concept. NX violet highlights Build for VRChat, selection, and active controls. The canvas has a subdued dot grid, and particle settings have clear section headings.

Checked in Unity 2022.3.22f1 on Linux with wide and 850×500 layouts, preview collapse, numeric field bounds, and the connected-node picker. Shader and graph semantics are unchanged. Windows and other display scales remain unverified.

NXSG alpha.28 — Editor polish

Editor layout and readability

• More consistent toolbar/button spacing and inspector field alignment.
• Clear selected sidebar tab, wrapped field labels and bounded text inputs.
• Collapsible material preview that fits the sidebar.
• Node controls above frame controls; shorter initial status hint.
• Connected-node popup and search stay within canvas bounds with scrollable choices.
• Long node/port names use ellipsis and tooltips.
• Tidied Particle Lifetime example layout; existing user graphs stay untouched.

Validated with actual Unity Linux compositor captures at wide and 850×500 layouts, popup/field bounds assertions, preview-collapse checks, and inline/curve/gradient editor smoke tests. See docs/UI_POLISH.md for evidence and limits.