Abstract: A materials trouble shooter is provided for use with 3D models in computer graphics. An error texture is displayed that is distinguishable from textures without errors. If a texture is missing or is applied incorrectly to the 3D model, an error texture is displayed using an error shader instead of a regular shader for the texture for which an error in loading or application has been detected.

Abstract: Interrelated items in a complex item set (such as a set of components in a complex software architecture) may be difficult to present in a manner that facilitates an understanding and evaluation of the item set, due to the amount of information and the difficulty in automatically discerning the organization of the item set. A set of criteria may be utilized to form criterion groups to which items matching respective criteria may be automatically assigned. Further grouping assignments may be achieved by identifying an ungrouped item that is associated with a grouped item. Such techniques may be applied in many variations to yield a representation of the item set, and a presentation of the item set to a user, that aggregates similar items and interrelationships, thereby promoting an understanding and analysis of the structure and organization of the item set while reducing the user involvement in the generation of same.

Abstract: An interactive development environment enables a user to create a customized image filter through a user interface that provides the developer with a capability to create a directed acyclic graph representing the mathematical operations and values that generate a customized visual effect. During development of the customized image filter, a visual shader designer engine may execute the operations and values associated with each node in a prescribed order and display the rendered outcome in the render view area of each node. In this manner, the developer is able to quickly visualize the visual effect produced by the image filter in real time.

Abstract: A materials trouble shooter is provided for use with 3D models in computer graphics. An error texture is displayed that is distinguishable from textures without errors. If a texture is missing or is applied incorrectly to the 3D model, an error texture is displayed using an error shader instead of a regular shader for the texture for which an error in loading or application has been detected.

Abstract: An integrated development environment includes a visual shader designer engine that enables a user to create a pixel shader embodied as a directed acyclic graph. The directed acyclic graph contains nodes, where each node is associated with an operation that is used to generate a color characteristic of a final rendered model. The visual shader designer engine displays a rendered image at each node that is the result of the node's operation during development of the directed acyclic graph. An error texture is rendered in a node when an erroneous condition is detected in rendering a node's operations.

Abstract: Interrelated items in a complex item set (such as a set of components in a complex software architecture) may be difficult to present in a manner that facilitates an understanding and evaluation of the item set, due to the amount of information and the difficulty in automatically discerning the organization of the item set. A set of criteria may be utilized to form criterion groups to which items matching respective criteria may be automatically assigned. Further grouping assignments may be achieved by identifying an ungrouped item that is associated with a grouped item. Such techniques may be applied in many variations to yield a representation of the item set, and a presentation of the item set to a user, that aggregates similar items and interrelationships, thereby promoting an understanding and analysis of the structure and organization of the item set while reducing the user involvement in the generation of same.

Abstract: Software architectures may include many types of elements, such as classes, functions, databases, queries, and users. An architecture may be the subject of many types of analysis, such as discovery of architecture features and design choices, rendering according to (e.g.) a visual layout or as a hierarchical data set, validation and testing of a chosen design, and evaluation by systems analysis tools. However, the information documenting the software architecture is often organized in a disjointed manner, such as in a set of release documentation, inline comments in source code, notes recorded in version control systems, and contact databases. Instead, the software architecture may be represented as a set of nodes of various node categories interconnected by links of different types. The representation may then be utilized in many types of analysis, such as visualization, transformation, and element analysis by complex systems analysis tools.