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Hundreds of new effects, thanks to ISF 🔥

· 3 min read
Jules Fouchy
Jules Fouchy
Main developer

ISF is a format that allows anyone to create cool shader effects and share them. And you will be able to import them in Coollab 2.0!


Browse the official ISF library, download the shader you like, drop it into Coollab, and it just works. It becomes a regular node in your graph, with all its settings exposed as pins.

  • Every kind of setting the format allows: sliders, colors, points, toggles, dropdowns (yes this is new!), images, etc.
  • Some ISF shaders have built-in audio-reactivity
  • Multi-pass shaders and feedback effects

Multi-pass effects (Blur, Feedback)​


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In Coollab v1, your whole project was compiled down to one single big shader. This was simple enough and worked well for a while, but it has some limitations: some effects fundamentally need to draw an intermediate image first, then read it back.

The v2 engine chains as many rendering passes as an effect needs, and can keep previous frames around. This unlocks:

  • Fast, high-quality blurs and bloom
  • Feedback effects: trails, long exposure, slit-scan, and anything else that accumulates over time
  • Simulations that step forward frame after frame

Transition effects​


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ISF has a special syntax to define Transitions between two images. This is perfect for our new VJ switcher where you can easily transition between clips on the fly, now with all the funky transitions you never dreamt of!

Generators​


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Some ISFs define fully standalone image generators which can be used as a scene on their own.

Inside Coollab we will just use generators to define some noises and other basic textures, because our philosophy is to be a creation tool, not one that just gives you a thousand prebuilt scenes to pick from. But if you want to, you can definitely import some cool scenes from the official ISF library!

What's next​

The rendering engine is in very good shape, so we are starting to work on the UI right now. Still aiming for a first alpha version somewhere between October and December. In the meantime you can expect more posts showcasing the work we did this summer on our 3D renderer and our Text renderer.

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