Inigo Quilez, the graphics programmer behind Shadertoy and several great graphics technique explainers, has published a new project:

Hello, I present you with the Human Shader, a project where anybody can participate and help create the first ever human-brain-only powered shader and mathematical image! Please join us and be part of history!

The idea is that each pixel of the image is hand-computed (no calculators allowed!) from instructions on a shared worksheet, which start with a set of coordinates and produce the color for that specific pixel.

Thankfully, the instructions do not require any bitwise arithmetic or convolutions, so computing one pixel takes about 10 minutes (give or take 2-3 minutes, depending on which part of the image you get.)

Things I really want to see:

  • The finished image (plus timelapse)
  • A breakdown of what the instructions actually implement: I can guess at some things, but I would love to see the thinking that went into it, and making it doable within the arithmetic limitations
  • How many pixels are off, and the average error rate per section (how and where do people make mistakes?)
  • The pixel throughput of Random People Online (what score does pen and paper get you on 3DMark?)

You must log in to comment.