# Shaders and memetic software October 22, 2026 · shaders, creative-coding, ai, open-source, future-of-software Canonical: https://www.romellogoodman.com/writing/shaders-and-memetic-software Originally published: https://mellogood.substack.com/p/shaders-and-memetic-software --- For years, [shaders](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4s1h2YETNY) were the holy grail of creative technology: part code, part problem-solving, and the engine behind music videos, film effects, concert visuals, and video games. I remember finding [The Book of Shaders](https://thebookofshaders.com/) by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo and Jen Lowe and feeling my mind unfurl as I wrote my first one. It was a new way of programming and felt more like solving a puzzle. I was excited, but I never returned to them. I was invested in other areas of my practice and didn’t have the bandwidth to explore them, so like many art ideas, they fell by the wayside. Then shaders became the software meme of the moment. I saw people prompting coding agents to write them on X and knew this was my way back in. Fast forward to today, and nothing feels out of reach. I can see a software demo on X, throw it into a coding agent and get a near-perfect replica in minutes. I can download a website or Mac app, point a coding agent at it and have a decompiled version waiting in a folder. Seeing something posted makes it feel possible, this is the idea behind the [Bannister effect](https://hbr.org/2018/03/what-breaking-the-4-minute-mile-taught-us-about-the-limits-of-conventional-thinking). What follows is a meme: someone posts an idea, and anyone can borrow, remix and riff on it instantly. The main effect is a homogenization of software. Every week brings a new [Ghibli-fication trend](https://maxread.substack.com/p/studio-ghibli-in-the-age-of-ai-reproduction): a few months ago it was [shaders](https://x.com/raffichill/status/2082961685111877763), last month it was using the models to [paint with code](https://x.com/jkeatn/status/2102441348075057539), and this week it’s [Opus explainers and music videos](https://x.com/claudeai/status/2108271552991252810). In many ways it’s an era of co-discovery. We’re all exploring the model’s [latent powers](https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/9/5/latent-powers/) together. But it also raises a question: what do we save for ourselves and what do we share? For corporations the answer is obvious, but for the rest of us, how do we share ideas and find inspiration within a world of copies? For me this renews the importance of research, prior art and cultivating diverse sources of inspiration. Using those disparate pieces and examples and combining them into something novel. That’s how [Minipix](https://minipix.romellogoodman.com/) was born. It’s a set of shaders compiled from tutorials, other libraries and resources from across the internet. I’ve spent a lot of time curating, reviewing and tweaking it, and now it’s open source: [github.com/romellogoodman/minipix](https://github.com/romellogoodman/minipix). Minipix is the tool that I used to make [Flora Figures](https://www.romellogoodman.com/works/flora-figures), and I’ll keep using it on future projects. That’s part of why I kept it private for so long. But if software flattens into memetic media, then I need to decide when and how I participate. I’m choosing now to let go of the scarcity and give back in the same way that the internet has given me. At least for now, it seems more fun to be part of the commons. To imagine a world where someone or their agent stumbles across the tool and builds something with it to express themself. -Mello P.S. This was my introduction to shaders years ago: P.S. I recently overhauled Minipix to have a better UI, faster shaders and new renderers: ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/14e1c278-d235-46da-a9fa-7490a9080900/public) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/c674fa12-1913-4668-f1c4-7be76d04bb00/public) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/85a5c814-d4d1-43e8-7c64-c100ea377900/public) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/9d735792-80de-4c6b-3b6e-aec04defcd00/public) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/65903b39-99d4-4975-8781-bb72b5f8cb00/public) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/BtaYDmQqPcGi8C3w4F2NuA/fdda14eb-f2b0-4df0-ddaa-886250828800/public)