Summary
Highlights
The video introduces the N64's 3D rendering capabilities, highlighting its hardware features for creating efficient 3D games. It explains the concept of shaders and how the N64 used a fixed function pipeline, a predecessor to modern shaders, for rendering effects.
The standard shader in Mario 64 multiplies the texture by the brightness of the light. Lighting is calculated diagonally off the camera. Vertex color alpha values are used, but often ignored. The shaded cutout texture is also discussed and the alpha output differs so Mario64 can multiply the texture. The game does have cuttout rendering mode to manage opacity.
Mario's body uses a unique shader that outputs the light color, with each body part having its own light source. This is why Mario's color can be easily changed with color codes. The vanish cap effect utilizes Alpha compare with a dither setting, making the transparency somewhat random, which lets them use the environment color alpha to decide how translucent to render a pixel.
The metal cap effect uses geometry mode to generate texture coordinates from the camera angle, creating a reflection illusion. The wing cap's shader has a small rendering error that leads to lighting inconsistencies, if the player is wearing the metal wing cap. The peach letter intro has the same shader to fade and out.
Billboards use a simple texture output shader. Coins use a gray scale texture multiplied by red yellow and blue, leveraging vertex colors for color. Lighting geometry is used for this effect.
Bowser's rainbow colors are achieved by interpreting vertex directions as vertex colors. Transparent billboards and transparent cutout, is used for various effects, including bomb shockwaves and fire. Boos use a complex shader like Mario's face, but rendered transparently and without dithering.
Bubbles use geometry mode to generate texture coordinates and multiply the texture color by shade color. Shadows make use of back face culling. The text font multiplies the texture color with an environment color parameter. The warm transitions are explained in detail. The different font colours is copied from the textures.
In the Mario Face Screen Mario's face has reflective part of his face, using a complicated Shader. The reflective part is done with an environment map and they stars move independently. The Stars have multiple light sources rendered.
Castle Grouds uses vertexcolors instead of camera lighting. The Peach Bowser Painiting smooth transitions between Peach's portrait and Browers portrait, using a level of detail function. Two cycle mode is required for 2 textures simultaneously.
The fog requires the two cycle for rendering mode G4K on Fogg shaders work like a standard shader. Tower of the Wing Cap starts to render in transparent code. Tower of the Wing Gap use shade alpha and some creative techniques for rendering
The tinted windows have the simple shaders rendered transparent and with vertex colors instead of the Lights. Level shifts shifts the shifting sandland, has nothing new. Hazy Maze cave has the Metal cap and the Metal cap has the crystals. Little details is G shading Smooth geometry.
The different optimizations that can be applied. The overall conclusion is there are not that many shaders even if you don't count the Mario Heads screen to optimise games.