The Book of Shaders

by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo and Jen Lowe

This is a gentle step-by-step guide through the abstract and complex universe of Fragment Shaders.

Contents

About this book

Getting started

What is a shader?
“Hello world!”
Uniforms
Running your shader

Algorithmic drawing

Shaping functions
Colors
Shapes
Matrices
Patterns

Generative designs

Random
Noise
Cellular noise
Fractional brownian motion
Fractals

Image processing

Textures
Image operations
Kernel convolutions
Filters
Others effects

Simulation

Pingpong
Conway
Ripples
Water color
Reaction diffusion

3D graphics

Lights
Normal-maps
Bump-maps
Ray marching
Environmental-maps (spherical and cube)
Reflect and refract

Appendix: Other ways to use this book

How can I navigate this book offline?
How to run the examples on a Raspberry Pi?
How to print this book?
How can I collaborate?
An introduction for those coming from JS by Nicolas Barradeau

Examples Gallery

Glossary

About the Authors
Patricio Gonzalez Vivo (1982, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a New York based artist and developer. He explores interstitial spaces between organic and synthetic, analog and digital, individual and collective. In his work he uses code as an expressive language with the intention of developing a better together.

Patricio studied and practiced psychotherapy and expressive art therapy. He holds an MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons The New School, where he now teaches. Currently he works as a Graphic Engineer at Mapzen making openSource mapping tools.

Jen Lowe is an independent data scientist and data communicator at Datatelling where she brings together people + numbers + words. She teaches in SVA’s Design for Social Innovation program, cofounded the School for Poetic Computation, taught Math for Artists at NYU ITP, researched at the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University, and contributed ideas at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She’s spoken at SXSW and Eyeo. Her work has been covered by The New York Times and Fast Company. Her research, writing, and speaking explore the promises and implications of data and technology in society. She has a B.S. in Applied Math and a Master’s in Information Science. Often oppositional, she’s always on the side of love.

Acknowledgements
Thanks Scott Murray for the inspiration and advice.

Thanks Kenichi Yoneda (Kynd), Nicolas Barradeau, Karim Naaji for contributing with support, good ideas and code.

Thanks Kenichi Yoneda (Kynd) and Sawako for the Japanese translation (日本語訳)

Thanks Tong Li and Yi Zhang for the Chinese translation (中文版)

Thanks Jae Hyun Yoo and June Kim for the Korean translation (한국어)

Thanks Nahuel Coppero (Necsoft) for the Spanish translation (español)

Thanks Raphaela Protásio and Lucas Mendonça for the Portuguese translation (portugues)

Thanks Nicolas Barradeau and Karim Naaji for the French translation (français)

Thanks Andrea Rovescalli for the Italian translation (italiano)

Thanks Michael Tischer for the German translation (deutsch)

Thanks Sergey Karchevsky for the Russian translation (russian)

Thanks Vu Phuong Hoang for the Vietnamese translation (Tiếng Việt)