slop.boutique

A lab for computation and intelligence as material and medium. Run by Manuel and Ramon.

024 · 23 October 2026 · shaders · handheld

DS Shader Sketchbook

A notebook of twelve live GLSL sketches for a dual-screen handheld, each with its shader, its JS and the device API that would ship it.

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Four dual-screen sketches side by side: neon type reading no_shade and on the DS, an ink pond, falling sand crossing the hinge, and glass widgets over a caustic background

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A lab notebook of twelve live shader sketches for a dual-screen handheld: two screens, a hinge between them, touch on the bottom only. It asks what Ramon's no_shade (a website drawn pixel by pixel in GLSL) could become on the Lattice DS, and every card runs in the browser with the same shader contract the device would use.

  • One canvas across the hinge: dsCanvas() puts both screens in one coordinate space, so a sunset, a tide or falling sand carries on behind the hinge and comes out on the other screen.
  • Shaders with memory: ping-pong simulations stepped at 60 Hz drive an ink pond you stir with your finger, Game of Life with a radar view, and a falling-sand grid that spans both screens.
  • Type, filters and materials: words become a glowing field texture, palette dithers and halftones run over a finished UI frame, glass cards bend what is behind them, and an old LCD ghosts as the list scrolls.
  • Transitions between pages: ink bloom, tile flip, melt, TV switch-off and pixel dissolve, plus a page that drops through the hinge onto the screen below.
  • Every sketch is open: tabs show its GLSL, the JS frame() that drives it, and the Lattice API call that would ship it. Change the internal resolution (128×96 up to 1024×768) and palette, tweak its sliders, and read the GPU-cycles-per-pixel estimate for the RG DS Plus.

The twelve sketches go from a palette field and a hinge sunset to page transitions and LCD as a material, and a closing section lists ten ideas not built yet, such as hinge pinball and a clamshell fold. Mouse and keyboard stand in for touch, stick and the A, B, X, Y buttons. Unlike Lattice Phantasmagoria, which is a playable set of cartridges and scenes, this is a design notebook: small, separate experiments with their source on show. The sketches have not been run on the device yet.

The top of the sketchbook: title, input notes, and three diagrams for the dual canvas, one frame's passes and the GPU budget per resolution
The top of the sketchbook: title, input notes, and three diagrams for the dual canvas, one frame's passes and the GPU budget per resolution
Sand through the hinge: grains pour from a nozzle on the top screen, slide off shelves and fall through the hinge into walls drawn on the bottom screen
Sand through the hinge: grains pour from a nozzle on the top screen, slide off shelves and fall through the hinge into walls drawn on the bottom screen
The Ink pond card: the device beside its notes, resolution and palette controls, sliders, GPU budget line and GLSL source
The Ink pond card: the device beside its notes, resolution and palette controls, sliders, GPU budget line and GLSL source
Type as a field: the words no_shade and on the DS drawn as glowing neon tubes across both screens
Type as a field: the words no_shade and on the DS drawn as glowing neon tubes across both screens
The Ink pond card with the JS frame() tab open, showing the few lines that step the simulation and draw both screens
The Ink pond card with the JS frame() tab open, showing the few lines that step the simulation and draw both screens
Hinge sunset: one sky across both screens, a blue dusk on top and the sun sinking into the sea on the bottom screen
Hinge sunset: one sky across both screens, a blue dusk on top and the sun sinking into the sea on the bottom screen
The Filters over the UI card with the proposed Lattice API tab open, next to the dithered race board and robot list
The Filters over the UI card with the proposed Lattice API tab open, next to the dithered race board and robot list
Glass widgets: a glass lens and a glass card bending a moving caustic background
Glass widgets: a glass lens and a glass card bending a moving caustic background
The Life radar card: Game of Life cells on the bottom screen, a radar sweep on top, and the GLSL of the step and cells programs
The Life radar card: Game of Life cells on the bottom screen, a radar sweep on top, and the GLSL of the step and cells programs
Hinge drop mid-transition: the dossier page falls through the hinge onto the robot list on the bottom screen
Hinge drop mid-transition: the dossier page falls through the hinge onto the robot list on the bottom screen
The Filters over the UI card: a Lattice race board and robot list run through a palette dither in the Blueprint palette, with the post shader source
The Filters over the UI card: a Lattice race board and robot list run through a palette dither in the Blueprint palette, with the post shader source
LCD as a material: a robot list on top, and below it the scrolling list shown as a slow passive-matrix LCD with ghosting
LCD as a material: a robot list on top, and below it the scrolling list shown as a slow passive-matrix LCD with ghosting

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