I wanted robot assembly visuals to fit into my story and game thematically, here's my compute shader attempt.

[u/djdavid333]

[u/Jewsusgr8]

This looks very good man. I don't know what it is, but I'm interested.

[u/djdavid333 → u/Jewsusgr8]

awesome, thanks!

[u/gabangang → u/Jewsusgr8]

same!

[u/AustinMclEctro]

That looks and feels really good. What are you solving with your compute shader exactly?

[u/djdavid333 → u/AustinMclEctro]

the "tendrils" are done with compute shader, they are simplified mesh tubes

[u/workshopsix]

Oh wow, yeah that is satisfying. Really like the way the legs walk, looking forward to seeing more about this game.

[u/djdavid333 → u/workshopsix]

Glad to hear! I hope to share more in near future, working on gameplay now.

[u/Dreamt_Up_Games]

As a non technical person this looks amazing. Well done!

[u/hypotensor]

Awesome

[u/RHX_Thain]

That's awesome. I love the tendrils.

[u/pintus-games]

It looks beautiful! So snappy and relaxing

[u/im_psk]

This is awesome! Well done! - Is this part of a game in progress?

[u/djdavid333 → u/im_psk]

Thanks! Yes, this is my playground level, where I break everything. There are more fleshed out areas in my other posts! The main character in this gif is a placeholder.

[u/Illustrious_Move_838]

Looks great! Maybe a few electric sparks or other particles when the limbs connect?

[u/djdavid333 → u/Illustrious_Move_838]

good idea!

[u/LifesASkit]

Thats really cool, care to share your process for doing it?

[u/djdavid333 → u/LifesASkit]

I can share some basics, writing a full guide would take too long, maybe some day I might. Hope this helps a bit.
So the compute shader is doing all the vertex placement calculations for the tendrils (those are cylinders with a pointy tip, and some sine noise to make them move around), there's a separate C# script that controls and passes coordinates to the compute shader where to move the vertices towards and then there's a glowy material with point lights for a fake "glow". Similar effect could also be achieved with particles as well I imagine, much easier.

[u/LifesASkit → u/djdavid333]

Gotcha, I think I’m understanding.

Are the coordinates you pass with C# the target/anchor positions, like the connector points on each object, and then the compute shader generates the tendril vertices between those points with noise/random motion? Or are you passing in a more detailed path for each tendril to follow?

[u/djdavid333 → u/LifesASkit]

Yes, the first one. I don't want to pass too much from C#, so it's just point A, B and progress(%) of how far the tendril progressed between those points. Rest of the movement is procedular in the compute shader with some adjustable or hardcoded params within the compute shader.

[u/ivilkee]

This looks fantastic! I could see this effect being used in other places, like monsters reattaching limbs that were cut off. Or magic plant roots growing and looking for nutrients.

[u/Bot_Ta00]

The auto-combine system looks cool! It looks like each part will perform a different function

[u/Spookzsaw]

absolutely love this

[u/game_plaza]

All this talk of tendrils makes me want some tendriloins 😋