Alpha Release Of Shaderworks XT Available

Mad Software has released an alpha version of its new HLSL shader development tools, Shaderworks XT, with a final release date planed for the first quarter of 2004. Shaderworks includes three different parts: Visual Editor provides a graph-based, interactive, realtime development environment that allows you to see the shader preview, source code, hierarchical structure, and other details simultaneously. FX Viewer is a stand-alone viewer and editor for .FX-format shaders (Microsoft’s HLSL shader format). Integration SDK provides an API that allows the resulting shaders to be integrated into your application or game engine. According to the FAQ on the product’s Web site, pricing is not yet final, but is expected to be under $100, or possibly even free.