Compute Shader Plus

This Godot 4 plugin adds in a ComputeHelper class that keeps track of compute shaders and their uniforms. Here's a simple example of a shader that reads and then writes to a texture (ideally in the render thread):

var image := Image.create(image_size.x, image_size.y, false, Image.FORMAT_RGBAF)
image.fill(Color.BLACK)

var compute_shader := ComputeHelper.create("res://compute-shader.glsl")
var input_texture := ImageUniform.create(image)
var output_texture := SharedImageUniform.create(input_texture)
compute_shader.add_uniform_array([input_texture, output_texture])

var work_groups := Vector3i(image_size.x, image_size.y, 1)
compute_shader.run(work_groups)
ComputeHelper.sync()

image = output_texture.get_image()

Demos

I've made a few sample projects that use this plugin:

• Slime Mold Simulation
• Boids Simulation

Planned Additions

There's a few things I'd like to add to this plugin eventually:

• A new LinkedArrayUniform class. Because arrays are passed by reference, it should be possible to have a class that automatically reads from and updates a given array without the user having to call functions like get_data() or update().
• A more optimized use of uniform sets. From examples I've seen, I know there are times where uniforms and uniform sets can be reused, but I haven't done enough testing to know exactly when, or how I'd want to implement that in this plugin.

Other Resources

For more information on compute shaders in Godot 4, here are some useful resources:

• Official Compute Texture Demo Project
• "Godot 4 - Conway's Game Of Life (Full Lesson)" Video Tutorial (Uses C#)
• "Everything About Textures in Compute Shaders!" Article
• "How to use Compute Shaders in Godot 4" Video

And while you're here, here's some similar plugins you might want to look at:

• Godot-GPU-Computer
• Compute Shader Studio