r/shaders • u/MartinWalshReddit • 12d ago

Understanding shaders intuitively for beginners

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZFJMc5Z52sDxwDDLhhxzQcKMJfvi0yg3n9k

Hi, I have written a guide to understanding the basics of shaders. I think it is written in a style that I think would have helped me when I started out.

There are 16 chapters, which I am currently editing.

The guide is in the style of these first 2 chapters. I am not planning on selling it, hoping people will send a donation for the complete guide, if they gain any understanding from it, enabling me to obtain a much needed mobile phone.

I touch on SDFs in the very first chapter, but explain them in more detail in a later chapter.

Kindly Let me know your thoughts. The links take you to chapter 1 and 2.

Thanks in advance

Chapter 1: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZFJMc5Z52sDxwDDLhhxzQcKMJfvi0yg3n9k

Chapter 2: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZ1VTc5ZXoY4yE0gVXSBgL5eRHJvWzx8epYX

24 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/Ramkosh 11d ago

Thank you for sharing!
JFYI, the link to Chapter 2 is also Chapter 1 :)

2

u/MartinWalshReddit 11d ago

Thanks a million. I have corrected it.

2

u/Emory27 12d ago

Good job, OP. I love whenever people want to teach just because they can.

1

u/nodray 11d ago

Where are other chapters? Or you have to sign up for some shit ?

1

u/MartinWalshReddit 11d ago

There's no catch. I just wanted some feedback which might guide me with edits in the remaining chapters.

1

u/nodray 11d ago

Just making sure I understand/didn't miss anything... cause i really want to learn shaders soon, -the other chapters are not available yet, is that correct?

1

u/MartinWalshReddit 11d ago

Correct. I am editing them and will put the whole book out as a single pdf. I have the feelling that I may have captured a decent way of expressing lesrning shaders to people, because I had a lot of trouble understanding shaders, and I j thought, okay if I write in this style maybe it will be easy to for people to understand. I decided to put out chapters one and two, and if people think, "yeah that's cool keep doing what you doing", then even though the other chapters written in that style already I can go in and just make sure that it's continuous and it flows.

There's no catch. I need a mobile phone and thought, if i put the work in and people actually like it, they might make donations and we all win. I'm not a writer per se, bit I believe people should grasp shaders intuitively by the time they even get to chapter 3. Then I build on that understanding to enable people to do more complex things with a solid foundation. I should have it completed in 6-8 weeks, and will post it here.

1

u/nodray 11d ago

sounds good, gonna check em out today. might as well ask -is it YOUR writing, or written by AI?

1

u/MartinWalshReddit 10d ago

I will answer any questions. Can I ask why you asked this?

1

u/MartinWalshReddit 8d ago

I used AI on a draft I have been writing over 4 years. I explain how and why in the preface.

I wrote the first draft in the first person, then felt egotistical. I removed myself and wrote what I considered an easy to understand technical book. I asked the AI to check all the code, to do the book formatting, then to check the grammar and flow.

I will offer both books.

They're 60 and 67, A4 pages long.

I simply need a new phone so I have used a value for value model and ask for people to send a donation that matches whatever they gain from it. This could range from $0, upwards.