Research for 3D modelling assignment

Pixel Shaders:

 The name used to describe the method in which a GPU applies textures and renders pixels to the display. Pixel Shaders are used to give a more realistic look to objects, such as reflections.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/Pixel_Shader.html 

Vertex Shaders:

 A programmable function in display adapters that offers a graphics application programmer flexibility in rendering an image. The vertex shader is used to transform the attributes of vertices (points of a triangle) such as color, texture, position and direction from the original color space to the display space. It allows the original objects to be distorted or reshaped in any manner.

From Vertex Shader to Pixel Shader:

 The output of a vertex shader along with texture maps goes to an interpolation stage and then to the pixel shader. The pixel shader is another programmable function that allows flexibility in shading an individual pixel. Whereas vertex shaders can be used to completely transform the shape of an object, pixel shaders are used to change the appearance of the pixels.

It's About Gaming:

 Game developers push the envelope for fast graphics rendering and determine the right balance of vertex shading and pixel shading. Sometimes, the pixel shader, which is also called a "fragment shader," performs no processing and acts only as a pass-through.
Introduced in 2001, vertex shaders and pixel shaders are supported by OpenGL and DirectX. See graphics pipeline and graphics accelerator.


Shaders in the Pipeline:

 Vertex and pixel shaders allow the programmer complete flexibility in rendering an image with regard to reshaping the objects and changing their surfaces. See graphics pipeline for more details

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/53754/vertex-shader

Render Pipeline:

In 3D computer graphics, the graphics pipeline or rendering pipelinerefers to the sequence of steps used to create a 2D raster representation of a 3D scene.

Gouraud Shading:

Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes.

Flat Shading:

flat shading - Computer Definition. In computer graphics, a technique for computing a one-tone shaded surface to simulate simple lighting. See Gouraud shading. Types ofShading. Flat, Gouraud and Phong shadingare the three most common types of shadingused on 3D objects.

Phong Shading:

Phong shading refers to an interpolation technique for surface shading in 3D computer graphics. It is also called Phong interpolation or normal-vector interpolation shading.