Computer Graphics Through OpenGL®, 4th Edition

CHAPTER16OpenGL 4.3, Shaders and the Programmable Pipeline: Escape Velocity

We'll now pick up where we left off end of the last chapter. There we set the foundations of OpenGL 4.3. Now we'll study more advanced features, as well as the two optional shader stages, namely, tessellation and geometry.

We begin in Section 16.1 by trying to reconstitute the pre-shader toolbox of Chapter 3. In the process we'll find that even though a few of the older gadgets have been discarded from 4.3, new ones have been added and, in fact, the programmable pipeline often affords a more efficient way to do things than pre-shader. Section 16.2 introduces two methods to control run-time program flow in a shader more sophisticated than simply branching on if-clauses, ...