Partial Derivatives (ddx, ddy, fwidth) (Ronja)
Auto-discovered
Ronja
Visit resource ↗Description
Ronja’s tutorial 046 demystifies HLSL partial derivatives: ddx and ddy measure how a value changes across 2×2 pixel quads, and fwidth combines them for screen-space-aware filtering.
Demonstrates greyscale debug views, then builds an anti-aliased step (aaStep) that widens cutoffs by one pixel’s gradient - reducing jaggy fire, toon bands, and procedural edges versus raw step().
Includes a scrolling noise fire shader comparing step, aaStep, and smoothstep. Sample projects live in the ShaderTutorials GitHub repo under Assets/046_Partial_Derivatives.
Beginner-friendly Unity CGPROGRAM examples; frequently bookmarked when artists first hit shimmering procedural thresholds at oblique angles.
Related resources
- This will rewire how you think about rendering optimization
This Procedural Pixels article by Jan Mróz presents a teaching mental model of the GPU rasterization pipeline for everyday optimization.
100% match · <shaders><blog><artists><gpu><pixel><programmers><technical><useful> - 2D Water Shader Breakdown (Cyanilux)
A Shader Graph breakdown of stylized 2D water in Unity URP: sprite reflections via a second camera, scrolling noise distortion, fake highlights, and tilemap shoreline ripples for pixel art.
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><catalog><cyanilux><free><online><paywall> - Book (w/ Turnable Pages) Breakdown (Cyanilux)
Cyanilux breakdown of a URP spellbook with vertex-shader page turns, flipbook page textures, dual Lit Graphs, pooling C# driver, and optional Blender setup notes.
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><catalog><cyanilux><first><free><online> - Cloud Shader Breakdown (Cyanilux)
Cyanilux Shader Graph tutorial for URP that builds animated cloud decks on a subdivided plane with layered world-space noise, vertex displacement, and depth-based fading at intersections.
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><catalog><cyanilux><each><free><online> - Crystal Shader Breakdown (Cyanilux)
A Cyanilux Shader Graph walkthrough for Unity URP that builds an unlit transparent crystal with object-space Y colour gradients, camera opaque-texture refraction, Fresnel opacity, and HDR glow for bloom.
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><axis><between><catalog><cyanilux><first> - Custom Renderer Features (Cyanilux)
Long-form Cyanilux guide to URP ScriptableRendererFeature and ScriptableRenderPass code: example effects, RTHandle setup, blit paths, and Unity 6 Render Graph notes.
100% match · <shaders><blog><any><catalog><cyanilux><free><online><paywall> - Depth (Cyanilux)
Long-form Cyanilux tutorial on Unity depth spaces, Z buffers, Scene Depth sampling, SV_Depth, and world-position reconstruction in URP and HDRP.
100% match · <shaders><blog><between><catalog><cyanilux><explaining><free><online> - Dissolve Shader Breakdown (Cyanilux)
URP Shader Graph breakdown by Cyanilux on dissolve effects: Step and noise clip fragments with glowing edges, height-axis variants, and view-space UVs to reduce seam artifacts.
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><axis><catalog><cyanilux><free><functions> - 2D Grass Rendering with WebGPU Compute Shaders
Technical walkthrough from the Jarl Devs Team of a fully procedural 2D pixel-art grass renderer driven by two WebGPU/WGSL compute passes that regenerate, depth-sort, and shade…
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><every><gpu><pixel><programmers><shader> - Slang: Bridging Graphics and Machine Learning
Slang: Bridging Graphics and Machine Learning is a recorded talk by Shannon Woods, presented at High-Performance Graphics (HPG). HPG talk by Shannon Woods (NVIDIA / Khronos…
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><detail><free><programmers><real><time><useful> - Smooth-Maximum, the most useful function
Smooth-Maximum, the most useful function is a free YouTube video on the Inigo Quilez channel. Inigo Quilez video deriving smooth maximum functions from algebraic rewrites of…
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><access><detail><free><function><functions><programmers> - New AMD Radeon Developer Tool Suite update brings shader source code, Extended PIX Markers, and command-line capture
New AMD Radeon Developer Tool Suite update brings shader source code, Extended PIX Markers, and command-line capture is a technical blog article by Chris Hesik. AMD GPUOpen…
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><article><detail><free><programmers><related> - Why does ASTC use ISE when almost nothing else does?
Why does ASTC use ISE when almost nothing else does? is a technical blog article by Fabian Giesen. Technical blog explaining ASTC integer sequence encoding (trits and quints)…
100% match · <blog><article><detail><explaining><free><programmers><technical><use> - Announcing AgilitySDK 721 Preview and an addition to LinAlg in Shader Model 6.10
Announcing AgilitySDK 721 Preview and an addition to LinAlg in Shader Model 6.10 is a technical blog article by Amar Patel. DirectX Developer Blog announcing Agility SDK…
100% match · <shaders><intermediate><blog><article><detail><each><free><overview> - Partial Graphics Programs
Partial Graphics Programs is a technical blog article by Nada Ouf. DirectX Developer Blog detailing Partial Graphics Programs in Agility SDK 1.721-preview: split pipeline…
100% match · <shaders><blog><article><detail><free><overview><partial><pixel> - Floor and Ceil Versus Denormals on CPU and GPU
Floor and Ceil Versus Denormals on CPU and GPU is a technical blog article by Adam Sawicki. Blog examining how floor and ceil behave on subnormal floats when platforms preserve…
100% match · <shaders><blog><article><detail><free><gpu><point><programmers> - Inside 007 First Light - A Deep Dive Into The Evolved Glacier Engine
Inside 007 First Light - A Deep Dive Into The Evolved Glacier Engine is a free YouTube video on the Digital Foundry channel. Digital Foundry sponsored interview with IO…
100% match · <intermediate><access><detail><first><free><gpu><programmers><shader> - Scaling Game Performance Analysis with NVIDIA Nsight
Scaling Game Performance Analysis with NVIDIA Nsight is a recorded talk published on the NVIDIA developer channel channel. NVIDIA talk on optimizing real-time ray tracing with…
100% match · <case><detail><free><gpu><overview><programmers><real><time> - Fitting Code Driven Displacement Revisited
Fitting Code Driven Displacement Revisited is a February 2026 technical article by Daniel Holden deriving closed-form links between critical spring-damper character motion and…
100% match · <blog><article><between><free><function><programmers><technical><time> - Dispatching Hundreds of Thousands of Compute Tasks
Dispatching Hundreds of Thousands of Compute Tasks is a March 2026 blog post by Amini Allight on recording huge Vulkan compute command streams for a GPU voxel spring simulation…
100% match · <intermediate><blog><free><gpu><know><programmers><shader><use>