Beautypi Starts ShaderToy

In January, 2013, Shadertoy.com was created by Pol Jeremias and Inigo Quilez (Beautypi) as a repository for community-shared shaders. For over a decade now, ShaderToy had been a place for those interested in shaders to learn, share and experiment with the notoriously difficult form of coded expression. The community played a significant role in the development of algorithmic art as a place for thousands of users to develop for the love of coded art before it was practically feasible to sell work as NFTs.

Jen Lowe and Patricio González Vivo, co-authors of The Book of Shaders, spoke to this author (Peter Bauman) about the importance of Shadertoy.

Peter Bauman: If somebody sees an art work and is interested in it for any reason, then they learn the work was made by shaders—what would you recommend they do next if they want to dig beyond the surface level and into the process of the work?‍‍

Patricio González Vivo: I recommend reading The Book of Shaders as a primer [laughs.] Then I recommend checking out the work of Inigo and what is out there in Shadertoy. There’s a strong relationship between the shader world and the demoscene. A lot of old demosceners like Inigo Quilez, Mr. Doob and Jaume Sanchez (Clicktorelease). They all met through shaders. I have found them in my work career around places like Samsung, Apple, Adobe and Oculus. There are all these people who were in this petri dish of the demoscene. That bunch is very interesting because the mentality was very focused on visual and technical hacking in order to make cool, flashy demos.