Learn GLSL Shaders from Scratch

What you'll learn

• Learn to use GLSL to create great shaders.

• Create great image manipulating shaders for cool website effects.

• Learn to combine your shaders with lighting effects.

• Learn how to create explosions and fire shaders.

• Learn how to create procedural textures.

• Learn to create HUD displays for real-time 3d applications.

• Learn how we can use shaders to manipulate the geometry of a model

Reed courses certificate of completion

Digital certificate - Included

• Introduction 08:57

  • 1: Welcome to the Course Preview 03:51
  • 2: Introduction Preview 03:06
  • 3: Parallel Processing 02:00

• First Steps 1:04:15

  • 4: GLSL is not Javascript 07:01
  • 5: Using THREE.js as your development platform 07:42
  • 6: Your First Shader Preview 07:31
  • 7: The vec class 04:22
  • 8: Changing the color using the mouse 09:58
  • 9: Changing color with time 04:40
  • 10: Blending colors 05:51
  • 11: Uniforms and varyings 04:49
  • 12: Using clamp 06:02
  • 13: Using step and smoothstep 04:19
  • 14: What have you learned? 02:00

• Shaping Functions 1:11:03

  • 15: Drawing a circle 02:28
  • 16: Drawing a square 10:15
  • 17: Moving our shape 03:47
  • 18: Moving the shape over time 02:24
  • 19: Rotating the shape 07:39
  • 20: Changing the rotation centre 05:48
  • 21: Tiling 03:22
  • 22: Drawing circles 05:49
  • 23: Drawing lines 07:33
  • 24: Combining elements 08:45
  • 25: Showing a polygon 06:06
  • 26: A brick pattern 04:07
  • 27: What have you learned? 03:00

• Noise 16:04

  • 28: What's all that noise? 03:31
  • 29: Using noise to create a fire shader 05:20
  • 30: Using Noise to Create Wood and Marble Preview 04:13
  • 31: What have you learned? 03:00

• Using Textures 26:52

  • 32: A simple use of a texture image 08:42
  • 33: Ripple the Image Preview 05:07
  • 34: Blend between images 06:16
  • 35: Create a texture from text 04:47
  • 36: What have you learned? 02:00

• Vertex Shaders 19:11

  • 37: Turning a Box into a Sphere Preview 06:05
  • 38: Using the THREE.js lighting chunks 03:58
  • 39: Creating an explosion 06:08
  • 40: What have you learned? 03:00

• Lighting 20:34

  • 41: Fresnel shading 05:33
  • 42: Environment mapping 05:20
  • 43: Bump mapping 06:41
  • 44: What have you learned? 03:00

• Post Processing 11:44

  • 45: Using the post-processing shaders that come with THREE.js 05:42
  • 46: Creating a custom post-processing shader 03:44
  • 47: A Simple Blur Filter 01:18
  • 48: What have you learned? 01:00

• Conclusion 00:49

  • 49: Conclusion 00:49

In this course we're going to look at GLSL ( OpenGL Shading Language) to create amazing effects.

Maybe you are

• a designer who has seen some terrific, cutting edge websites using cool transitions and wondered how it was done. You may have heard about WebGL and know that you can use some simple THREE.js code to do some remarkable things.

• a developer trying to visualise some data in a striking way.

• a game developer wanting to add some custom effects to your 3d objects surfaces.

GLSL is how you can use OpenGL to display a surface. The code syntax is based on the C language, but fear not, we will assume you have literally no knowledge of this language at all and we will, as the course title states, learn this from scratch. GLSL uses the GPU ( the Graphics Processing Unit) to handle multiple programs at the same time, so it is unbelievably fast.

In the course we will be writing code for the browser, because this allows us to focus on GLSL, without needing to worry about installing any additional software. We will be using the THREE.js WebGL library and CodePen so you can instantly edit the source and see the results, needing nothing other than a browser to experiment. Only a small amount of Javascript is used but this will be explained thoroughly as it comes along. But you can also use what you learn about GLSL in a C/C++/C# program or a Python program.

We will start from really simple examples and progress slowly through each stage of developing a custom shader. You will be able to play with the shader code on CodePen, so you can experiment with different values to see the impact it has on the end result.

GLSL shaders are split into vertex shaders and fragment shaders and we will focus initially on the fragment shader, working essentially in a 2d environment. With dozens of shaders in the course resources you will learn the language in gentle stages.

Creating your own shaders means understanding the GLSL language and that is the aim of the course. You could search for a suitable shader on ShaderToy, ShaderFrog or glslViewer and then try to adapt the code. But without knowing the language you're going to find that difficult to do. To really be effective you need to know about the GLSL language, shaping functions, tiling, polar coordinates and lighting calculations. To do this you will need to follow along with the course and complete the many challenges suggested. At the end you will then be able to create any shader that you can imagine.

What students say

"I came here interested in making a custom lighting shader on an obj model, and I really found answers to my questions and more. The two faced aspect of the lessons and the CodePen sketches [are] great. I thank you !"

"A great course! Methodical, step by step explanations not only of the GLSL but also of the general theory behind shaders, usable with any shader system. Essential if you are into computer graphics or generative art. Thank you!"

"I've tried to pick up shaders in the past but found it quite difficult. Unlike other resources I've found, this course was the course that finally helped me get a much better grasp of glsl. It is well structured and very informative. I would recommend it to anyone looking to pick up glsl."

"This is exactly what I needed. I am a web designer/developer with design background and a good a good deal of javascript experience I'm trying to get into 3D visualizations for web. Since GLSL is written in C language it had been a huge barrier. I totally recommend this course to anyone having problems to get a clear understanding of GLSL."

"So far this course has been really amazing. Very few courses on shaders really take the time to explain the math behind what's happening in a way that let's "non-math" folk develop an intuition for it. Great job!"

"This is a perfect course for anyone wanting to learn about GLSL in a gradual manner. The instructor makes sure to spend enough time in the basic functions of GLSL, so students can get a proper understanding before moving on to the next concept. I had found GLSL a bit daunting in the past because examples would get out of hand very quickly, so I really appreciate this course's approach."

• Web developers looking to use the latest techniques to make stand out websites.
• 3d developers needing to create their own shaders.

• Only internet access is required.

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