slop.boutique

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

022 · 23 October 2026 · 3d · generative

Xenoform Studio

A specimen studio: write alien creatures as code from bodies, tentacles, limbs and eyes, and watch them move in a live 3D scene drawn in eighteen ink and print looks.

Previewin your browser
The bestiary scene in the comic look: a crab and a beetle facing off in the foreground, a sandworm breaching the dunes, a jellyfish, a drone, a tripod, a spore tree and anemones behind

In early access for subscribers until 22 November 2026. Subscribe to run it now.

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A specimen studio for alien creatures. You write a creature as a short script, out of bodies, tentacles, limbs and eyes, and it walks, writhes and looks back at you in a live 3D scene drawn like an ink illustration. Edits run as you type.

  • A grammar for creatures: body(), tentacle(), limb() and eye(), combined with .sprout, .ring, .mirror, .along, .tip and .foot; any part can be a lambda, so a ring of arms can vary arm by arm.
  • A bestiary to start from: jellyfish, sandworm, crab, tripod, beetle, anemone, stalker, spore tree and drone, each written with the same builders your scripts use.
  • Eighteen looks: moebius, ligne claire, technical, engraving, scratchboard, pencil, stipple, manga, riso, blueprint, noir, sumi, chalk, pastel, hologram, woodcut, comic and hurlant, or a look composed from line layers, shading, hatching and paper.
  • Line drawing you can take apart: contours, creases, suggestive contours and ridges, hatching in four mark styles that wraps around each part, and lenses that show each layer's input on its own.
  • Knobs from code: every param() becomes a slider, colour, switch or choice under the view and is written back into the script; each one links to its line.
  • See how it is built: the Graph tab shows the builder graph and each stage from parse to frame, with timings, and how many meshes and draw calls the scene needs.

Nine examples come with it: one scene in every look, a study of hatching marks, the bestiary, a floating kraken, a mecha walker, a garden of alien flora, a biomechanical chimera, the grammar on one page, and a line-drawing study.

Hypercore Studio, also on this site, grew out of this studio: it adds comic pages, stories, a sketch lab and rooms on top of the same creature language. Xenoform Studio is the earlier, focused version: one scene, its creatures and its looks. The line and hatching layers follow published techniques (Saito and Takahashi 1990, Gooch et al. 1998, Praun et al. 2001, DeCarlo et al. 2003, Judd et al. 2007). It needs WebGL2.

The full studio with bestiary.js: the script editor on the left, the 3D scene with nine creature presets on the right, and the look and gait knobs below it
The full studio with bestiary.js: the script editor on the left, the 3D scene with nine creature presets on the right, and the look and gait knobs below it
A floating kraken with a frill, a ring of suckered arms and stalked eyes, over a desert under a peach sky
A floating kraken with a frill, a ring of suckered arms and stalked eyes, over a desert under a peach sky
The Graph tab for grammar.js: the stages from parse to frame with timings, above the graph of world, creature, body and frond nodes
The Graph tab for grammar.js: the stages from parse to frame with timings, above the graph of world, creature, body and frond nodes
A mecha walker: a riveted hull on jointed legs with a sensor eye and antennas
A mecha walker: a riveted hull on jointed legs with a sensor eye and antennas
The studio with lines.js, the line-drawing study: one blobby specimen and a knob for every layer (lens, contours, suggestive, ridges, hatch, inky hatching, gooch, bands), each linked to its line in the script
The studio with lines.js, the line-drawing study: one blobby specimen and a knob for every layer (lens, contours, suggestive, ridges, hatch, inky hatching, gooch, bands), each linked to its line in the script
A biomechanical chimera: a soft onion body in an armour collar with horns, hoses and tentacles, walking on two mecha legs
A biomechanical chimera: a soft onion body in an armour collar with horns, hoses and tentacles, walking on two mecha legs
The line-drawing specimen through the n·v lens, the input of the suggestive contours: the surface shaded by how directly it faces the camera
The line-drawing specimen through the n·v lens, the input of the suggestive contours: the surface shaded by how directly it faces the camera
The same scene in the riso look, printed in pink and blue
The same scene in the riso look, printed in pink and blue
The same specimen through the groups and parts lens: each part of the creature and its shadow filled with a flat colour of its own
The same specimen through the groups and parts lens: each part of the creature and its shadow filled with a flat colour of its own
The same scene in the hologram look, glowing cyan on near-black
The same scene in the hologram look, glowing cyan on near-black
The studio with hatching.js: a look composed from line layers, toon shading and cross-hatching in the script, four hatched specimens in the scene, and the stroke tile, angle and hatch knobs
The studio with hatching.js: a look composed from line layers, toon shading and cross-hatching in the script, four hatched specimens in the scene, and the stroke tile, angle and hatch knobs
The looks.js scene of a crab, a jellyfish, a tripod and a stalker in the engraving look, black lines on cream paper
The looks.js scene of a crab, a jellyfish, a tripod and a stalker in the engraving look, black lines on cream paper

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