14 / Smooth distance fields
When drops become one.
Twelve sphere centers follow a damped trail. A ray marcher finds their blended surface, then a numerical normal turns the shape into reflected light.
Rendering needs WebGL
This study uses a locally authored shader. Its source, explanation and parameter controls remain available if a drawing context cannot be created.
What this study teaches
An independently authored native WebGL ray marcher evaluates a smooth union of sphere signed-distance fields. A bounded pointer trail supplies sphere centers; finite-difference surface normals support shaded, normal and distance views. No original custom-licensed implementation is redistributed.
Independent implementation informed by “How to Create Interactive, Droplet-like Metaballs with Three.js and GLSL”, Yuki Kojima, Codrops. This is newly authored code and artwork, not a recovered original project. The original integrated-use license is retained in the acquisition record. This package contains a new ray marcher, independent shader expression and original visual treatment; it does not copy the restricted demo as-is.