GLSL Essentials

The Graphics Rendering Pipeline

In accordance with the programmable pipeline diagram, I'll describe, in a summarized way, the module that the data goes through to explain how it is transformed in every stage.

Geometry stages (per-vertex operations)

This block of stages focuses on the transformation of vertex data from its initial state (model coordinates system) to its final state (viewport coordinates system):

• Vertex data: This is the input data for the whole process. Here we feed the pipeline with all the vectorial data of our geometry: vertices, normals, indices, tangents, binormals, texture coordinates, and so on.
• Textures: When shaders showed up, this new input for the vertex stage was possible. In addition to making our renders colorful, textures ...