Interview with Inigo Quilez: The Story Behind Shadertoy and Shader Programming

This article, originally published on the Juejin technical community, presents a translated interview with Inigo Quilez, co‑founder of shadertoy.com and former engineer at Pixar and Oculus.

Inigo grew up in San Sebastián, Spain, and after years of skiing and fishing, he turned to programming and mathematics, eventually becoming a leading figure in shader programming and computer graphics.

My name is Inigo Quilez, I was born and grew up in San Sebastián (a.k.a. Donostia), a beautiful city in the Basque Country, in Europe (Spain). I enjoy mathematics, computer graphics and skiing (you can beat me at computer graphics, but not at skiing), among other things.

Shadertoy is described as an online community for graphics professionals and hobbyists to learn and experiment with GLSL code, effectively a YouTube for shader coders, combining social networking with creative technical art.

The first version of Shadertoy appeared in 2009 after WebGL landed in Firefox; after moving to Los Angeles, Inigo and Pol Jeremias rebuilt the site from scratch in early 2013, learning PHP, CSS, and JavaScript to launch the platform.

Inspired by the demoscene, Shadertoy was designed to be a social hub where coders share actual code, attach usernames to shaders, and receive feedback, fostering a community similar to demoscene gatherings.

Inigo explains that his mathematical knowledge comes from formal electrical‑engineering training combined with extensive self‑study of calculus, Fourier analysis, differential equations, number theory, dynamical systems, and combinatorics, driven by curiosity and project needs.

He describes Shadertoy to non‑technical people as the YouTube for those who create images by coding mathematical formulas and algorithms, essentially a platform for graphics and film technologists to generate visuals without traditional drawing tools.

Looking ahead, Inigo and Pol plan to spend a few days each month improving Shadertoy, maintaining a long list of enhancements, but they are not in a hurry, treating it as a passion project.

When asked about learning routes for beginners, Inigo advises self‑directed project‑based learning, repeated practice, and even reinventing wheels when necessary, emphasizing the importance of aesthetics and artistic judgment alongside technical skill.

The interview concludes with a preview of Inigo’s SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 talk titled “Why I Use Mathematics to Create Images – A Journey of Technological Innovation,” where he will discuss the broader benefits of shader coding beyond fun.