We present a tool for exploring the design space of shaders using an interactive evolutionary algorithm integrated with the Unity editor, a well-known commercial tool for video game development. Our framework leverages the underlying graph-based representation of recent shader editors and interactive evolution to allow designers to explore several visual options starting from an existing shader. Our framework encodes the graph representation of a current shader as a chromosome used to seed the evolution of a shader population. It applies graph-based recombination and mutation with a set of heuristics to create feasible shaders. The framework is an extension of the Unity editor; thus, designers with little knowledge of evolutionary computation (and shader programming) can interact with the underlying evolutionary engine using the same visual interface used for working on game scenes.

翻译：我们提出了一种工具，可利用集成于Unity编辑器（一款知名商业视频游戏开发工具）的交互式进化算法探索着色器的设计空间。该框架借助现代着色器编辑器的底层图结构表示与交互式进化机制，使设计师能够基于现有着色器探索多种视觉方案。我们将当前着色器的图结构编码为染色体，用于初始化着色器种群的进化过程，并通过基于图的交叉重组与变异操作结合启发式策略生成可行着色器。作为Unity编辑器的扩展插件，即便缺乏进化计算（及着色器编程）知识的设计师，亦可使用与游戏场景创作相同的可视化界面与底层进化引擎进行交互。