About hardware shaders

User Guide > Rendering and Render Setup > Shading > About shading and texturing surfaces > Hardware shaders >

Maya includes three hardware plug-ins that you can use to create hardware shaders, CgFX, HLSL, and ASHLI (Advanced Shader Language Interface).

NoteAs of Maya 2009, the ASHLI plug-in is now available as part of the Maya Bonus Tools. Bonus Tools is a free collection of useful Maya scripts and plug-ins that are available from the Autodesk Web site (www.autodesk.com/maya-bonustools).

To see CgFX, HLSL and ASHLI shaders, you must have a supported video card. As well, your Scene View must be in hardware textured mode.

Only the hardware renderer can render these hardware shaders.

ImportantYou should only use graphics cards that are qualified for Maya and the ASHLI plug-in (support for HLSL and GLSL). Check the Autodesk website (www.autodesk.com/qual-charts) for the most accurate information about qualified hardware.

If you try to load the ASHLI plug-in with unqualified hardware, an error message appears and the plug-in is not loaded.

Plug-in limitations

You cannot use CgFX, HLSL or ASHLI shaders that contain certain effects in Maya:

Global effects
Multi-pass effects

Shaders that deform geometry are not supported.