I can't believe it's May!!!

Wow, the 4th newsletter AND video. I think I'm figuring out a cadence... although I did take last week and this week off...

Demystify shaders with a new video

I've been wanting to talk about this topic FOREVER. In fact, it might be why I even started Computing for Designers. I've always been in awe of video game graphics — it's why I got interested in tech and ultimately ended up where I am! Shaders are such a fundamental part to understanding games and software... but they're a dark, mystical art! Or are they? This isn't a comprehensive video, but it'll be enough to get you thinking in shader-mind-space and know what to google!

Spoiler: I think you know more about shaders than you think you do :) If you've ever used Photoshop, you know what shaders are!

🎥 Watch the video here! Try it @2x speed! 💨

Interesting links

• How scrolling textures gave Super Mario Galaxy its charm — I use a clip from this video in explaining shaders, but it's such a well-made video, I think it deserves a watch from you!
• Light fixture secrets in Portal — another video by Jasper that demonstrates the performance tricks used to make distorted 3d lights on a 2d texture
• Why are 2d graphics harder than 3d graphics? — 2d is actually harder than 3d! All of our hardware and software is optimized around 3d (we talk about this in the video above)... learn a bit of history in this article!
• Painting a landscape with maths — Signed distance field wizardy...
• Making a game in fake 3d — I love the game coop Sokpop... this video shows one of the reasons why! They're so creative in their use of tech... how can you fake 3d in a 2d tool? (My hot take: all 3d is fake... it's all LEDs tricking our brain)

SOS

Please send me a note if you got this far and if this content is interesting! I don't add tracking metrics in these newsletters, so I have no idea who's reading this! It'd help me a lot to get to know you better :)

Also, please send this along to your friends!

Stuck in my head

New segment? Psy's first comeback in... a long time... is a bop! That That, produced by Suga from BTS :)

Julius Tarng

@tarngerine • Dallas, TX • May 5, 2022