Hello all! Welcome to the Shader Workshop page!
Taught by: Char Stiles (contact@charstiles.com) @charstiles
In this workshop, you will learn how to livecode shaders by creating a visual composition with GPU code and a little bit of math. Livecoding is a method of programming in which one’s changes to the code are realized immediately and in real-time. This is an ideal way to create music visualizers, or any interactive abstract graphics of the sort. We will briefly go over how to use the shaders we create in a variety of other real-time engines like Unity, p5.js & touch designer.
You will learn about where the shader exists in the graphics pipeline, the basics of how the language works, and how to quickly iterate on writing your shader using livecoding tools. You will also be given a plethora of tools to build upon what you learn, so you can keep learning and practicing beyond this workshop.
Schedule
6:00 – 6:15 EDT (15 min) Introduction.
6:15 -7:05 EDT (50 min) We will go through the check points together (see below)
7:05 – 7:35 EDT (30 min) workshopping time
7:35 -8:00 EDT (25 min) optional popcorn presentation of work. I will relay any questions that came up during the workshopping time that would be helpful to the whole group.
8:00-8:15 (15 min) We will go over Unity, p5 & Touch Designer templates
8:15 – 8:45 (30 min) Q&A
8:45 – 9:00 (15 min) I will present my tips and some steps going forward to learn more about shader coding.
Links
👋 The Force by Shawn Lawson the editor we are using: https://shawnlawson.github.io/The_Force/
🎞 Link to my presentation slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1M5lDJ0x1iCOLQTn8EGdI8vIGpGSqvAfsxmJ0s7jngVQ/edit?usp=sharing
Tools
🧰 Here you can find the GLSL sticker sheet: https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/e6fec016967c6c8fd648aa4b6c0055cc
here is Inigo Quilez’s page for 2D SDF: https://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/distfunctions2d/distfunctions2d.htm
🧮 Here is an online graphing calculator, very helpful when writing shaders: https://www.desmos.com/calculator
Here is the cosPalette function graphed out: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/18rq4ybrru
Code
Checkpoint 0: Fundamental
Here we will learn polar coordinate, color channel, scale, sin, cos and time.
https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/c49fd09c26d6c0c22cc79dd440c7df3d
Checkpoint 1: Color
Here we learn using palette and combining colors to explore a bit: https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/5a74e98dfb644786e3d0a614f09741f5
Optional Checkpoint 2: Shape
https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/c90432f65f56819be25afd7a1d5551aa
Optional Checkpoint 2.1: Shape movement
https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/a80a060136aad4aff27cbed6c472e4c2
Optional Checkpoint 2.2: Adding Shapes
https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/39ac653485e137a76292e1d14ca2a2ee
Optional Checkpoint 3: backbuffer
https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/556d5d78930532c1a7910eb124d33a5f
Templates
Touch Designer: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u2_IrBhG5SM6gyy4VYdy73VvFQxejT9Y?usp=sharing
Unity: https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/5ebc0fddd938e601da7323ea357d0fdc (this also moves vertices)
Unity Sticker Sheet: https://gist.github.com/CharStiles/787c2e3e898b68f7e2ca1acbdc0262b5
p5: https://glitch.com/~p5-shader-ex
Homework!
Create an object using one of the templates, (or in any tool outside of a frag shader editor) and color it using shaders in a way that “makes sense”
“Makes sense” can be interpreted broadly. Some options:
- Make a lava lamp where the inside blobs are driven by a shader.
- Make some bubbling soup.
- Make washing machine where the window part is a shader.
- Make a ghost!
This homework is most of all meant to be a prompt to encourage exploration, which is why its left to broad interpretation.
Next Steps
These are some specific suggestions from me if you want to continue learning but don’t know how to start.
💜Join a community!
Shader.Zone is a cool discord to talk about shaders, tools, generative art, and more! Started by my friends Conner Bell and Patricio Gonzalez Vivo: https://shader.zone/
💙Watch the Twitch stream Curiously Minded!
It was started by two former students of mine who met at a workshop that was just like this one!: https://www.curiouslyminded.xyz/ This is their stream: https://www.twitch.tv/curiouslyminded/
💚Learn the maths from The Book of Shaders
If you haven’t looked at this already, look through it! Its wonderfully paced and has a lot of versatile useful information: https://thebookofshaders.com/
🔢More online math
http://immersivemath.com/ila/index.html
🌟Learn more about GLSL shader functions:
https://www.shaderific.com/glsl-functions
📽Learn more math that is relevant from an awesome YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
📈Some easing functions if sin & cos get boring 🙂
