Shader Craft
A unified skill covering 36 GLSL shader techniques (ShaderToy-compatible) for real-time visual effects.
Invocation
/shader-dev <request>
$ARGUMENTS contains the user's request (e.g. "create a raymarched SDF scene with soft shadows").
Skill Structure
shader-dev/
├── SKILL.md # Core skill (this file)
├── techniques/ # Implementation guides (read per routing table)
│ ├── ray-marching.md # Sphere tracing with SDF
│ ├── sdf-3d.md # 3D signed distance functions
│ ├── lighting-model.md # PBR, Phong, toon shading
│ ├── procedural-noise.md # Perlin, Simplex, FBM
│ └── ... # 34 more technique files
└── reference/ # Detailed guides (read as needed)
├── ray-marching.md # Math derivations & advanced patterns
├── sdf-3d.md # Extended SDF theory
├── lighting-model.md # Lighting math deep-dive
├── procedural-noise.md # Noise function theory
└── ... # 34 more reference files
How to Use
- Read the Technique Routing Table below to identify which technique(s) match the user's request
- Read the relevant file(s) from
techniques/— each file contains core principles, implementation steps, and complete code templates - If you need deeper understanding (math derivations, advanced patterns), follow the reference link at the bottom of each technique file to
reference/ - Apply the WebGL2 Adaptation Rules below when generating standalone HTML pages
Technique Routing Table
| User wants to create... | Primary technique | Combine with |
|---|---|---|
| 3D objects / scenes from math | ray-marching + sdf-3d | lighting-model, shadow-techniques |
| Complex 3D shapes (booleans, blends) | csg-boolean-operations | sdf-3d, ray-marching |
| Infinite repeating patterns in 3D | domain-repetition | sdf-3d, ray-marching |
| Organic / warped shapes | domain-warping | procedural-noise |
| Fluid / smoke / ink effects | fluid-simulation | multipass-buffer |
| Particle effects (fire, sparks, snow) | particle-system | procedural-noise, color-palette |
| Physically-based simulations | simulation-physics | multipass-buffer |
| Game of Life / reaction-diffusion | cellular-automata | multipass-buffer, color-palette |
| Ocean / water surface | water-ocean | atmospheric-scattering, lighting-model |
| Terrain / landscape | terrain-rendering | atmospheric-scattering, procedural-noise |
| Clouds / fog / volumetric fire | volumetric-rendering | procedural-noise, atmospheric-scattering |
| Sky / sunset / atmosphere | atmospheric-scattering | volumetric-rendering |
| Realistic lighting (PBR, Phong) | lighting-model | shadow-techniques, ambient-occlusion |
| Shadows (soft / hard) | shadow-techniques | lighting-model |
| Ambient occlusion | ambient-occlusion | lighting-model, normal-estimation |
| Path tracing / global illumination | path-tracing-gi | analytic-ray-tracing, multipass-buffer |
| Precise ray-geometry intersections | analytic-ray-tracing | lighting-model |
| Voxel worlds (Minecraft-style) | voxel-rendering | lighting-model, shadow-techniques |
| Noise / FBM textures | procedural-noise | domain-warping |
| Tiled 2D patterns | procedural-2d-pattern | polar-uv-manipulation |
| Voronoi / cell patterns | voronoi-cellular-noise | color-palette |
| Fractals (Mandelbrot, Julia, 3D) | fractal-rendering | color-palette, polar-uv-manipulation |
| Color grading / palettes | color-palette | — |
| Bloom / tone mapping / glitch | post-processing | multipass-buffer |
| Multi-pass ping-pong buffers | multipass-buffer | — |
| Texture / sampling techniques | texture-sampling | — |
| Camera / matrix transforms | matrix-transform | — |
| Surface normals | normal-estimation | — |
| Polar coords / kaleidoscope | polar-uv-manipulation | procedural-2d-pattern |
| 2D shapes / UI from SDF | sdf-2d | color-palette |
| Procedural audio / music | sound-synthesis | — |
| SDF tricks / optimization | sdf-tricks | sdf-3d, ray-marching |
| Anti-aliased rendering | anti-aliasing | sdf-2d, post-processing |
| Depth of field / motion blur / lens effects | camera-effects | post-processing, multipass-buffer |
| Advanced texture mapping / no-tile textures | texture-mapping-advanced | terrain-rendering, texture-sampling |
| WebGL2 shader errors / debugging | webgl-pitfalls | — |
Technique Index
Geometry & SDF
- sdf-2d — 2D signed distance functions for shapes, UI, anti-aliased rendering
- sdf-3d — 3D signed distance functions for real-time implicit surface modeling
- csg-boolean-operations — Constructive solid geometry: union, subtraction, intersection with smooth blending
- domain-repetition — Infinite space repetition, folding, and limited tiling
- domain-warping — Distort domains with noise for organic, flowing shapes
- sdf-tricks — SDF optimization, bounding volumes, binary search refinement, hollowing, layered edges, debug visualization
Ray Casting & Lighting
- ray-marching — Sphere tracing with SDF for 3D scene rendering
- analytic-ray-tracing — Closed-form ray-primitive intersections (sphere, plane, box, torus)
- path-tracing-gi — Monte Carlo path tracing for photorealistic global illumination
- lighting-model — Phong, Blinn-Phong, PBR (Cook-Torrance), and toon shading
- shadow-techniques — Hard shadows, soft shadows (penumbra estimation), cascade shadows
- ambient-occlusion — SDF-based AO, screen-space AO approximation
- normal-estimation — Finite-difference normals, tetrahedron technique
Simulation & Physics
- fluid-simulation — Navier-Stokes fluid solver with advection, diffusion, pressure projection
- simulation-physics — GPU-based physics: springs, cloth, N-body gravity, collision
- particle-system — Stateless and stateful particle systems (fire, rain, sparks, galaxies)
- cellular-automata — Game of Life, reaction-diffusion (Turing patterns), sand simulation
Natural Phenomena
- water-ocean — Gerstner waves, FFT ocean, caustics, underwater fog
- terrain-rendering — Heightfield ray marching, FBM terrain, erosion
- atmospheric-scattering — Rayleigh/Mie scattering, god rays, SSS approximation
- volumetric-rendering — Volume ray marching for clouds, fog, fire, explosions
Procedural Generation
- procedural-noise — Value noise, Perlin, Simplex, Worley, FBM, ridged noise
- procedural-2d-pattern — Brick, hexagon, truchet, Islamic geometric patterns
- voronoi-cellular-noise — Voronoi diagrams, Worley noise, cracked earth, crystal
- fractal-rendering — Mandelbrot, Julia sets, 3D fractals (Mandelbox, Ma