Effective Blur Shader

Effective Blur Shader asset is used to achieve blur effect on any image/sprite/background or surface. Shader is based on performance focused algorithm called convolution, which is approx. 350% more effective than the standard gaussian function implementation.

Shader itself uses performance effective pre-calculated convolution matrix. By using the shader you can easily blur surface with resolution 1920x1080 on 60fps in real time (updated each frame) without any noticeable performance impact even on integrated GPUs or on High-end mobile devices. At the cost of efficiency the blurred output is not that accurate on higher values as standard gaussian implementation, but on lower or moderate blurred images there are no noticeable differences.

Features:

• Convolution Gaussian shader – To achieve Gaussian Blur effect
• Convolution Box blur shader – To achieve Box Blur effect (Both shaders are the same effectiveness but provide slightly different results)
• Use on single sprites/fonts
• Use on surfaces
• Without performance drop on 1920x1080 60fps in real time (updated each frame)

Testing:

Test run on Intel HD 630 integrated video card.

Rendering the entire application with 1920x1080 resolution on 60fps with shader applied:

• Convolution Gaussian Shader – 36 % GPU usage
• Convolution Box Shader – 36% GPU usage
• Standard Gaussian Shader – 96% GPU usage

Only basic knowledge of GML is need for implementation and it can be run on any project, however in order to achieve the best performance output it is recommend to use it with surfaces, so some knowledge about surfaces is recommended.

Note:

From the demo application the UI Slider and standard gaussian blur are not part of the project. Demo contains this only for demonstrative purposes.