A perceptual experiment in inverted spatial focus.
Hyperopia is an experimental Minecraft shader that explores depth perception by reversing the relationship between distance and focus. Instead of enhancing realism, the shader intentionally disrupts familiar visual cues by making distant geometry appear visually prioritized while nearby objects gradually lose sharpness.
The effect is achieved through a depth-dependent post-processing pass that inverts the scene's depth response. Objects that would normally attract attention due to proximity become increasingly blurred, while distant structures remain clear and visually stable. A slowly oscillating depth threshold continuously shifts the focus boundary, creating subtle changes in spatial interpretation over time.
Rather than functioning as a traditional aesthetic shader, Hyperopia can be viewed as a small visual perception study implemented within Minecraft's rendering pipeline.
✨ Highlights
Depth-Inverted Focus Model.
The shader reconstructs linear depth from Minecraft's depth buffer and reverses its interpretation. Nearby objects are treated as though they occupy distant visual space, while distant objects are treated as focal subjects.
This inversion alters the player's intuitive understanding of scale, distance and spatial priority, producing a persistent conflict between visual focus and physical location.
Depth-Dependent Circular Blur.
Blur intensity is derived directly from the inverted depth value.
A circular multi-sample blur kernel is applied to objects that fall outside the current focus region. The implementation uses two concentric sampling rings, creating a smooth radial blur rather than directional smearing.
As objects approach the camera, blur intensity increases quadratically, causing nearby geometry to become significantly softer than the surrounding environment.