Shader Glass

Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago

erickhill

98 points

17 comments

github.comTechstory

excitedpositive

Debate

20/100

ShaderGraphicsAccessibilityEmulation

Key topics

Shader

Graphics

Accessibility

Emulation

Shader Glass is a tool that applies shader effects to the entire screen, sparking discussions on its potential uses for accessibility, emulation, and retro gaming.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Moderate engagement

First comment

Peak period

108-120h

Avg / period

8.5

Comment distribution17 data points

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Based on 17 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Nov 8, 2025 at 11:08 AM EST
about 2 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Nov 13, 2025 at 6:29 AM EST
5d after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
9 comments in 108-120h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Nov 13, 2025 at 10:40 PM EST
about 2 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (17 comments)

Showing 17 comments

junon

about 2 months ago

2 replies

This is really cool. I see the demo uses it for CRT stuff but my first thought is this could be used as a tool for accessibility hallway testing to simulate color blindness, haloing (not sure the correct term), and various other visual impairments.

jeroenhd

about 2 months ago

> simulate color blindness

I believe Microsoft already has this built into the OS these days:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/devtools/ac...

Of course shader glass will let you write your own, custom, possibly more-realistic colour blindness simulations, but you don't necessarily need third party tools for that kind of thing these days.

Y-bar

about 2 months ago

I like to use Sim Daltonism (https://github.com/michelf/sim-daltonism/) for accessibility testing.

ghosty141

about 2 months ago

1 reply

I always wish this would also exist on linux.

cupofjoakim

about 2 months ago

1 reply

It'd be cool, but I guess the hodgepodge of different solutions in that space would make it really hard. For example, many mods for GW2 don't work in linux if you're on something like Hyprland due to them having to act as overlays. Not sure if that's a wayland issue or just a typical hyprland thing though

sho_hn

about 2 months ago

You're right, but a plugin for a common compositor like Plasma's KWin would still make it accessible to a large number of users. Shouldn't be too hard to do either. Maybe I'll do it this weekend!

laylower

about 2 months ago

1 reply

Can I change the pixel emulator to something else?

And also, I read it talks to #device capture input (webcam/capture card)#

Can't cheater providers use this to inject colors?

micheljansen

about 2 months ago

The way I understand it, the shader overlay can only modify what is already being rendered below. It does not have access to the underlying application logic, 3D geometry or other internals of a game that you would need for this. You can increase the contrast etc of a game but you cannot see through walls or anything, so it probably won’t help you cheat.

rmellow

about 2 months ago

1 reply

Question - How does this capture the entire screen, except its own window?

I've tried making similar functionality in Python to add visual effects to the screen, but the only way I found is to use one of the packages which leverage the Screenshot functionality.

But this causes recursion since my app's window will be in the screenshot (unless I put my app on a different monitor or a different area of the monitor). How do they avoid that?

Jasper_

about 2 months ago

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/...

micheljansen

about 2 months ago

That's so clever! Plenty of emulators and games don't have native support for these kinds of shaders so just put a filter over it.

ThomW

about 2 months ago

I really want all my media players to include this. Cheers doesn't look the same since my 27" CRT died, and watching it through Shader Glass reminds me a lot of the look of that old TV.

PaulHoule

about 2 months ago

Way cooler than Liquid Glass!

ganelonhb

about 2 months ago

I need something like this on Linux, any solutions?

xnx

about 2 months ago

Awesome! Does it have a degauss button?

yboris

about 2 months ago

Reminds me of cool-retro-term - a terminal that looks like a CRT