Jellyfish Particles — Fluid Shader R&D
Turning a calm particle surface into a living jellyfish swim by separating anatomy (bell vs tentacles), layering flow fields, and tuning amplitude for fluid motion.
Goal
Create a hero background that feels alive — a jellyfish swimming in moving water, not just drifting dots.
Constraints
Must stay smooth on consumer GPUs and not overpower foreground content.
Key Insight
Motion felt “dead” because everything moved in one layer. Separating anatomy and time scales unlocked lifelike movement.
Evolution
V1 — Calm Surface
Parametric sin/cos waves with noise. Stable but lifeless.
V2 — Bell + Tentacles
Introduced bell pulse and tentacle bands so motion reads as a creature, not a sheet.
V3 — Fluid Swim
Added layered flow fields, long-wavelength water motion, and bigger breathing cycles.
What I’d Improve Next
Experiment with curl-noise flow for even more organic swirls, and add adaptive LOD so the field scales to low-power devices gracefully.