Shader- Mini-program that processes graphic effects in real time.
Vertex Shader- Manipulates geometry in real time.
Pixel Shader- Manipulates rendered pixels in real time.
Bui Tuong Phong- Inventor of the Phong reflection model and the Phong shading interpolation method.
Jim Blinn- Widely known for his work on the pre-encounter animations for the Voyager project.
Phong Shader- Interpolation technique for surface shading in 3D computer graphics. It interpolates surface normals across rasterized polygons and computes pixel colors based on the interpolated normals and reflection model.
Blinn-Phong Shading Model- Default shading model used in OpenGL and Direct3D's fixed-function pipeline and is carried out on each vertex as it passes down the graphics pipeline.
Graphics Pipeline- The current state of the art method of rasterization-based rendering as supported by commodity graphics hardware.
Diffuse- Color map or texture is an image containing only the color information of a surface.
Blend- Blends two textures together.
Additive Blending- Brightens the base map. Black becomes transparent.
Subtractive Blending- Darkens the base map with the new image. White becomes transparent.
Detail Mapping- A layer laid on top of a low-detail color texture. Players can see the detail texture from their point of view, but the detail texture is fading in as they move.
Depth of Field- Distance in front of and beyond the object being focused on and photographed.
Heat Haze- Creates a shimmering effect you can see emanting from very hot objects.
Specularity- Controls what parts of the surface are shiny or dull based on the grayscale value of the specularity map.
Bloom- Makes a light source appear brighter than it really is.
Masking and Opacity- Masking uses a specific color that is designated as the "clear" color. Opacity determines whether an image is solid or transparent, or somewhere in between.
Illumination- Uses an additional image to control what portions of the texture are lit and to what degree.
Reflection/cube mapping- A cube map is a series of images that the environment map uses to fake the reflection on the surface of an object.
Pan/rotate/scale- Panning is moving vertically or horizontally. Rotating is turning. Scaling means larger or smaller.
Bump mapping- Grayscale and display the most limitied 3D effect.
Normal mapping- RGB image that records all of the light and shadow detail from a high-polygon model.
Parallax Occlusion Mapping- Creates 3D definition in textured surfaces.
Why are shaders so powerful? They have the ability to manipulate an individual pixel or vertex in real time.
Diagram and explain the workflow of a shader. Generate input for a preexisting shader, set parameters and assign textures, then look at the end result.
What kinds of maps are most commonly used by shaders? Color map, opacity, bump, normal, and cube.
What is a node-based shader system? Visual by nature, movable nodes that you can connect to each other. You can create new nodes, delete, cut, copy and paste them. You can connect nodes to each other in many combinations and see the results in real time.