The hottest Graphics Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

Demystifying GPUs for CPU-centric programmers

The AI Observer • 3 implied HN points • 14 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. GPUs are essential for modern compute, especially with the rise of AI workloads like large language models that heavily rely on tensor operations like matrix addition and multiplication.
  2. When working with GPUs, programmers use CUDA to define functions called kernels that can be launched on the GPU. Parallelism is explicitly defined and optimized, unlike in CPUs where loops iterate serially over data sets.
  3. Execution on GPUs differs from CPUs due to the minimal cost of GPU hardware threads, efficient thread scheduling at the hardware layer, and the use of warps to execute parallel instructions. GPUs optimize for high throughput with many hardware threads, while CPUs focus on low latency for individual instructions.

GPU 2D Drawing: Rectangls. Masking. Rotations.

Hasen Judi • 2 HN points • 04 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. Rectangles can be defined in different ways for SDF purposes, but simplifying it to (center, half_size) helps in calculations such as distance to edges or corner points.
  2. Simple transformations like growing, bordering, and inversion, along with masking and rotations, can create interesting visual effects and shapes.
  3. Combining these shape manipulation techniques can lead to the creation of more complex shapes and effects in GPU-rendered graphics.

Signed Distance Function (Field)

Hasen Judi • 2 HN points • 01 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. Signed Distance Function calculates distance between a point and the nearest edge of a shape.
  2. SDF allows for creative 2D shape manipulations like creating borders, shadows, and color compositing.
  3. Using techniques like step and smooth step with SDF helps in creating smooth shapes and adding effects like drop shadows.

A Rorschach Test on Fire

Dan’s MEGA65 Digest • 1 HN point • 15 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. The MEGA65 Digest for March 2023 features files, features, hardware, and a programming exercise to play with.
  2. An external floppy disk drive option with modern features and compatibility for the MEGA65 is available for pre-order.
  3. A colorful, low-resolution 80x50 Mandelbrot Set can be created using BASIC programming on the MEGA65, showcasing the computer's capabilities.
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Deciding the Structure for GPU Draw Commands

Hasen Judi • 0 implied HN points • 26 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. Deciding the structure for GPU draw commands involves implementing various elements like rounded rectangles, softness, masking, rotations, and color gradients to draw complex GUI elements.
  2. Consider the requirements and constraints of the GUI design, such as the need for bezier curves for specific use cases beyond SDF rounded rectangles.
  3. Improving the efficiency of drawing rectangles by simplifying parameters like corner radius, using turns instead of radians for rotations, and implementing a unified command struct for specifying properties of the draw commands.

Adding an OpenGL Backend

Hasen Judi • 0 implied HN points • 16 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. Conditional compilation is used to switch between Metal and OpenGL backends.
  2. The process of creating shaders in OpenGL involves more boilerplate code compared to Metal.
  3. Error reporting in OpenGL requires additional boilerplate code compared to Metal.

GM Shaders Mini: SDF Tricks

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 0 implied HN points • 05 May 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. Signed Distance Functions (SDFs) are useful for creating shapes like circles and boxes in shaders.
  2. SDFs allow for easy anti-aliasing and adding outlines to shapes in shaders.
  3. SDFs are versatile and can be used for various effects like glows, shadows, and direct lighting in shaders.

Apple Animation Through the Ages: 2014

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 0 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. In 2014, Apple introduced Metal as a high-performance graphics API for iOS, catering to graphics-intensive applications like mobile games.
  2. Metal provided low-level access to GPU hardware, aiming to improve performance by reducing bottlenecks caused by OpenGL ES drivers running on the CPU.
  3. Developers using Metal had to work more closely with the hardware, writing shaders and managing rendering pipelines for efficient graphics processing.

GM Shaders Mini: JFA

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 0 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🕹 Technology Graphics
  1. The Jump Flooding Algorithm can be used to generate distance fields around textures for various effects like outlines, shadows, and glows.
  2. The algorithm involves multiple passes sampling a 3x3 area at varying scales, focusing on opaque pixels and empty space.
  3. You can make variations to the algorithm based on your needs, like using floating-point surfaces for a greater distance range or calculating the internal distance for a proper SDF.