Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SHADERed VS OpenFrameworks

Compare SHADERed VS OpenFrameworks and see what are their differences

SHADERed logo SHADERed

Lightweight, full-featured desktop tool for creating and testing HLSL and GLSL shaders

OpenFrameworks logo OpenFrameworks

openFrameworks
  • SHADERed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-04
  • OpenFrameworks Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

SHADERed features and specs

  • Real-time Shader Editing
    SHADERed provides a real-time environment for shader development, allowing developers to see changes instantly as they edit code.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    The tool is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring a broad range of developers can utilize SHADERed regardless of their operating system.
  • Support for Multiple Shader Types
    SHADERed supports a variety of shader types, including vertex, fragment, and compute shaders, providing flexibility in shader development.
  • Built-in Debugging Tools
    The application comes with debugging tools such as breakpoint support and a watch window, which are valuable for monitoring shader variables and debugging code.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, SHADERed encourages community involvement and contributions, allowing anyone to suggest improvements or directly contribute to the tool's development.

Possible disadvantages of SHADERed

  • Steep Learning Curve
    New users, especially those unfamiliar with shader programming, may find SHADERed to have a steep learning curve due to its technical nature and extensive features.
  • Limited Documentation
    While the community may provide support, official documentation might be lacking or insufficient for some users, making it harder to fully understand all its features.
  • Potential Performance Issues
    As with many real-time applications, SHADERed can potentially consume significant system resources, which might lead to performance issues on lower-end hardware.
  • Complex User Interface
    The interface can be overwhelming for new users due to the multitude of features and options, hindering ease of use and user experience.
  • Niche Tool
    Being specifically geared towards shader editing, its use-case is niche, primarily appealing to developers who specifically need this functionality in their projects.

OpenFrameworks features and specs

  • Open Source
    OpenFrameworks is open-source, allowing developers to access, modify, and contribute to its codebase. This fosters a community-driven development environment and encourages collaboration.
  • Cross-Platform
    It supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, making it versatile for developing applications across various operating systems.
  • Rich Collection of Add-ons
    OpenFrameworks offers a wide range of add-ons and libraries contributed by the community, which extend the framework's capabilities and provide tools for graphics, sound, video, computer vision, and more.
  • Community Support
    The framework has a robust community that provides support via forums, tutorials, and a wealth of shared projects and code snippets, making it easier to learn and troubleshoot.
  • Artistic and Creative Focus
    OpenFrameworks is particularly well-suited for projects that emphasize creativity and artistic output, making it popular among artists and designers working on interactive installations and media art.

Possible disadvantages of OpenFrameworks

  • Steep Learning Curve
    While OpenFrameworks is powerful, its complexity can be daunting for beginners, especially those without experience in C++ programming.
  • Limited Documentation
    Although there is community support, the official documentation can sometimes be sparse or outdated, which can pose challenges for developers seeking detailed explanations or examples.
  • Performance Overhead
    As an abstraction layer over native OpenGL, OpenFrameworks might introduce performance overhead compared to writing raw OpenGL code, which can be a concern for high-performance applications.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies and ensuring compatibility across different platforms can be complex, especially when dealing with various libraries and add-ons.
  • Not Ideal for All Types of Applications
    OpenFrameworks is tailored towards creative coding and may not be the best choice for applications that require extensive GUI features or are more business-logic-oriented.

SHADERed videos

No SHADERed videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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OpenFrameworks videos

Part 2 of GAFFTA OpenFrameworks for Processing Coders

More videos:

  • Tutorial - openFrameworks tutorial - 000 intro to openFrameworks
  • Review - [openframeworks] Box2d study - Burst -

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SHADERed and OpenFrameworks)
3D
21 21%
79% 79
Interactive Exhibits
31 31%
69% 69
VJ
25 25%
75% 75
Prototyping Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OpenFrameworks seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 32 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SHADERed mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of SHADERed yet. Tracking of SHADERed recommendations started around Mar 2021.

OpenFrameworks mentions (32)

  • Ask HN: Who Are Your Favorite Photography and Generative Coding Artists?
    Zach Lieberman https://x.com/zachlieberman does his work in C++ with https://openframeworks.cc/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Resolume
    Not exactly VJ, but could be used for it. https://openframeworks.cc. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • VVVV – A Hybrid Visual/Textual Development Environment
    - openFrameworks https://openframeworks.cc/ C++. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Valve Says Counter-Strike 2 for macOS Not Happening, There Aren't Enough Players
    Vulkan is sort of a post-API API. It seems to be designed specifically with high performance render pipelines in mind, and "end users" should interface with it through an intermediary layer. Ie, you might prefer bgfx[0], cinder[1] or openframeworks[2]. 0: https://github.com/bkaradzic/bgfx 2: https://openframeworks.cc/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • I'm starting to get tired
    Since you have C# experience, take this time to learn more about C++ while you continue to look. While yes, it is very easy to write bad code, it's not a huge deal since you just graduated and are just hacking around. Plus there are a lot of helpers these days to make writing bad code a little less likely.A former mentor of mine gifted me "C++ Without Fear" by Brian Overland which I can recommend. It's not too... Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing SHADERed and OpenFrameworks, you can also consider the following products

Shadertoy - Build shaders, share them, and learn from the best community.

Processing - C++ and Java programming at the speed of thought.

GLSL Sandbox - An online GSGL Shader Gallery and live development tool.

TouchDesigner - TouchDesigner is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences.

KodeLife - Real-time GPU shader editor, live-code performance tool and graphics prototyping sketchpad.

Vvvv - vvvv is a graphical programming environment for easy prototyping and development.