How to solve a maze using shaders (2017) [video]

Is &quot;shaders&quot; a name that doesn&#x27;t work anymore? I always perceived them as after effect functions to apply to a scene to do stuff. Ie. Shading. But they seem to be little programs you can run in your GPU? I see more and more examples of using shaders to do stuff that really isn&#x27;t about taking an output scene and making it pretty.<p>Or did shaders always have this extended role?

I purchased Shadron as another shader program to play with since Shadertoy was web-based, and I wanted something small and local. I have had great fun playing with it especially while taking lunch at work. I don&#x27;t code for a living, so this is a true diversion for me during the workday.

The first comment is about the constant Tau.<p>I never heard of Tau so I had to look it up and came across this: &quot;pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant.&quot;<p>So now I am confused.<p>If a cicle has a diameter of 1 the circumference is pi.<p>Can someone explain in what context pi might be confusing?<p>Because the sinus&#x2F;radians always relates to the radius instead of the diameter?

Animations at 5:00 and 6:00, explanation at 1:00.