What is OpenGL® Shading?

OpenGL® (GLSL) is a computer programming language designed specifically for handling and controlling three -dimensional (3D) graphics during the drawing process directly in the graphics card with Opengl® libraries. The OpenGL® shadowing language basically gives programmers direct access to 3D geometry and rendering at the lowest possible level without having to write the language routines of the GPU hardware. By using the OpenGL® shading language, effects, such as procedure -generated textures and geometry, can be implemented and optimized, which accelerates the rendering process. It also allows you to effectively implement more complicated features such as animation or special effects, without a higher -level code control. The shadowing language is assembled by GPUs into executable code, which means that specific implementations and compilers can be designed by unified graphics cards, increasing performance profits from the use of different shaders.

For all practical purposes, the OpenGL® Language is a fully implemented programming language that mimics the syntax of the C programming language in almost all ways, except for variable indicators and some preprocessor directives. Mustinously defined features, variables and logical branch and loop commands are supported, allowing fully implemented programs to write only using the shader language and providing the level of abstraction, which is portable across different operating systems and hardware configurations. After completing the Shader program, it is handed over to the GPU where it is assembled and performed as needed during the rendering process.

The OpenGL® shading program is finally handed over to the GPU where it can be assembled hardware or drivers produced by a graphics card manufacturer. This means that certain commands used inside the language may have their real compiled bytecode optimized to make effectively work withSpecific hardware features of a particular graphics card. This increases the speed of implementation and can expand the basic functionality to include special rendering and effects that could be unique for one graphics card.

There are three types of shaders that can be used to write the OpenGL® shading language. The first is known as the top shader and is designed to perform complex operations on individual peaks, such as translation, scaling or texturing point in space. The second is a geometric shader and can be used to add, remove or otherwise manipulate polygons before they will eventually be rasterized. Fragment shaders, also called Shaders of Pixels, can be written to perform operations on the 3D scene points because they are translated into a flat two -dimensional (2D) image display, such as effects or lighting.