Johannesburg, September 2021: a winding world hop has led us to Treehouse in the Shade, a VRChat world by 1001 and SCRN. It's all so beautiful, It's all shaders.
I've been interested in procedural content generation since 2018, specifically procedural animation and shaders are one of those topics that has been on my backlog for a while now however the dark forces that swell your backlog and the harpies that snatch at your attention have resisted any further exploration of the matter.
Berlin, May 2023: I'm coming back from A/Maze and I'm reminded that computers are also a tool for creative expression, that they were once my tool for creative expression. I felt inspired and decided to work through The Book of Shaders on the train. The book is an excellent guide through some shader basics and it feels like a great example of the dynamic medium. Long train rides are also excellent — because you know your boy loves a liminal space.
The Art
Vienna, April 2023: It's pissing with rain outside and I'm strolling through the Albertina with wet socks and a foil-wrapped schnitzel in my pocket. I come across Hungarian Fields by László Moholy-Nagy. Today I have learnt that Klimt's Kiss is made with actual gold, I've learnt what constructivist art is and that large schnitzels in Vienna are huge, but I've still not learnt to apply my shader skills. The simplicity of Moholy-Nagy's work is striking, much of the heavy lifting is in the composition - this is perfect for my baby algorithmic drawing skills.
The Shader
The shader is an interactive re-creation of Am7 by László Moholy-Nagy, (you have to click on mobile). It combines a few techniques gleaned from the early chapters of The Book of Shaders, such as signed distance functions and transformations with matrices. You can find the source code here.
October 2023: I'm happy with the results but more than anything I'm happy that I made anything at all. To give shape to the dark forces that swell your backlog I'd say it's the taskmaster in my head, who dismisses playing as frivolous instead of essential. So this one's for the little guy (also inside my head), the procrastinator who said he'd do it eventually.