Rune Skovbo JohansenJan 23, 2025

New dithering method dropped

I call it Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering and I've released it as open source along with this explainer video of how it works.

Explainer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqGaIMVuLs

Source repository:
https://github.com/runevision/Dither3D

#gamedev #vfx

Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering Explained

YouTube
ApplesFeb 7, 2025
Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen

By popular request I've added support for color RGB dithering, CMYK halftone, true 1-bit low-res effects, and much more to the Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering repo!

See it all in this groovy feature demo video (I spent a long time on it) and 🔊sound on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzjWBmhO_1E
#gamedev #vfx

Feature Demo of Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering

YouTube
Feb 7, 2025 at 1:36pmWeb
Show threadAlex Barredo 📉Feb 7, 2025
@runevision very nice!
Show threadLeigh GarlandFeb 7, 2025
@runevision I stumbled across the video on YouTube last week and it blew my mind. Seeing it in colour just did it again. It's fascinating work, and you explained it really well, even for someone with very little knowledge of 3d rendering.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenFeb 7, 2025
@toychicken I'm glad you liked both videos, and the explanation :)
Show threadJari Komppa 🇫🇮 (has moved)Feb 7, 2025
@runevision I have to admit I was a bit skeptical after the explainer, but I'm sold now.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenFeb 7, 2025
@sol_hsa Yay! :)
Show threadAnders StenbergFeb 7, 2025
@runevision Looks great!
Show threadUncle JoshFeb 7, 2025

@runevision Is it incredibly stupid of me that I want this a shader for Minecraft?

This is beautiful work.

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenFeb 7, 2025
@UncleJosh Thanks! Someone has actually been working on shaders for Minecraft:
https://bsky.app/profile/arcolm.bsky.social/post/3lhdjbrhzis2e
arColm (@arcolm.bsky.social)

attempt at implementing Surface Stable Fractal Diffusion by @runevision.bsky.social in Minecraft Shaders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niLlvoeTZbI

Bluesky Social
Show threadUncle JoshFeb 7, 2025

@runevision Wow. I'm still mucking about with POV-Ray so I don't fully understand shaders.

Yes, I've thought about doing this in POV-Ray but if it's even possible it's out of my league.

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenFeb 7, 2025
@UncleJosh Hmm I’m not sure if it’s possible in POV-Ray without essentially implementing your own lighting instead of the built-in functionality. But it’s been many years so I might have forgotten details.
Show threadTheo HonohanFeb 7, 2025
@runevision This maybe a distinction that doesn't matter, but to me "halftone" involves screens with either regular or random (stochastic) dot patterns. When there's an ordered dither matrix, is that still halftoning?
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenFeb 8, 2025
@theohonohan I touch upon this in the explainer video. Yes it’s an unconventional pattern for halftone but I call it halftone when brightness is controlled by varying the dot sizes rather than varying the dot density, and that’s the case here. The dither pattern is only used to make the dot density distance-invariant, not to also control brightness.
Show threadTheo HonohanFeb 10, 2025
@runevision Thanks. I guess the bigger distinction here is between techniques like traditional dithering and halftoning that work strictly in image space (without even a z-buffer) and those which have access to / work in object space.