Microsoft® XNA™ Unleashed: Graphics and Game Programming for Xbox 360 and Windows

Chapter 12. HLSL Basics

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Understanding the Shader Process

• HLSL Syntax

• Vertex Shaders

• Pixel Shaders

• Techniques

• Passes

• Passing Application Data to the GPU

• HLSL Demo

Before 2001 the only way to talk to the graphics hardware was through the Fixed Function Pipeline (FFP) provided in DirectX. Graphics card manufacturers started allowing access through assembly code directly to their hardware. This was needed because the graphics cards were so much more complex than they were when the DirectX application programming interface (API) originally came out. It used to be enough to have an API that allowed us to set different properties and settings to get the graphics cards to work the way we wanted. However, as the cards became more complex, the DirectX ...