The Shadertoy of node graphs
If your course already points students at Shadertoy — a free, no-install, forkable-by-link sandbox for learning shader programming — VerkLabs does the same job one level up: real-time node graphs, driving shading, motion, audio and interaction, shared the same way. It's already been classroom-tested, and it scaffolds naturally into professional tools like TouchDesigner for students who want to keep going.
How it compares
| Shadertoy | VerkLabs |
|---|---|
| Nothing to install — open a browser tab | Same — nothing to install, open a browser tab |
| Share a shader by URL, browse a public gallery | Share a project by URL, and fork other people's work |
| One fragment shader, GLSL only | A typed node graph per object — same shading math, plus vertex, particle and geometry hooks |
| A few built-in uniforms (iTime, iMouse) | The Runsheet — a real timeline mixing audio tracks, camera moves and parameters, frame-accurate |
| No native camera or mic input | Microphone, webcam, and hand/pose tracking as live node inputs |
| Often a capstone in itself | Same, plus a documented path onward into TouchDesigner |
In February 2026, VerkLabs ran a 3-hour hands-on workshop at Nottingham Trent University: six guided projects, no coding required, building visuals that react to music, voice, webcam and hand gestures.
Students lit up as they started making things — several said they wanted to use VerkLabs for their final projects. That was the moment it stopped feeling like a tool built for one person, and started feeling like something other people could find their own way into.
Ready to assign this term
The same six-project path used at the NTU workshop is public as a free starter guide — assign it as-is, adapt it, or use it purely as a reference while students build their own.
No license, no lab install, no GPU driver wrangling. Students open a link and start wiring nodes in the same session.
For students heading toward the industry-standard tool, there's a node-family-by-node-family comparison mapping what they've learned here onto where it leads.
Students who already write Shadertoy don't start from zero - their code pastes in directly, uniforms and all.
Every project is a link — open it, see the live result and the graph that built it, side by side. No file formats, no missing assets.
Bring VerkLabs into your course
Free for students, nothing to license, and ready to drop into a lab session this term. If you'd like example project files, a live demo for your department, or a workshop like the one at Nottingham Trent, get in touch.
Email education@verklabs.ai