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There's something in many of those those Zozuar animations that trigger what I'm sure is a primal fear with me. Fascinating stuff but some of it is terrifying.

It’s non-stop uncanny valley.

Perhaps because biological creatures themselves can exhibit complex shapes and patterns through simpler mathematical principles like fractals and cellular automata

Came here to say exactly that. Fascinating, but deeply unnerving for some reason.

That's what I was thinking as well -- these are equations that generate colors in 2D space, so essentially pixel shaders, but for this particular effect I wonder if it would be simpler with some geometry shaders, and have a 3D engine take care of the shadows.

Obligatory demoscene links for anyone continuing down the rabbit hole: https://nanogems.demozoo.org/, https://www.pouet.net/.

Doing this inside the character limit is blowing my mind rn