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shader

shader

2 7.5
A small computer program that controls how light and color look in 3D images
  • noun
  • /ˈʃeɪdər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sombreador
  • The graphics designer created a complex shader to render realistic lighting effects in the game.

That card was a four GB Vega GPU with an unspecified shader count.

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Examples

  • Large parts of the rendering pipeline are user-programmable through shaders nowadays.

    Blog text (23)
  • Shaders are small programs that run on the graphics chip that describe the appearance of surfaces.

    Blog text (19)
  • One of my favorite things to do is write shaders.

    Blog text (19)
  • Make a good skin shader (or find one) for Jessy.

    Blog text (5)
  • The PC version will be enhanced with DX11 support, so there is increased texture resolution, tessellation, and shader improvements.

    Blog text (18)
  • After we shipped the game last year, I started looking for ways to update the shaders to improve the appearance of the game without impacting performance.

    Blog text (19)
  • Using a fragment shader, the developer was able to achieve stunning visual effects for the 3D model.

  • The artist wrote a custom shader that controlled how colors blended together in the scene.

Surface Forms

shader singular
shaders plural

Morphology

shader = shade (semi-transparent) = shade + er

Morphologically 'shade' + '-er' is clear, but the sense 'a graphics program' is a specialized technical meaning that may not be obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Shader comes from shade ('a darker area or shadow') and the ending -er ('one who does something'). So in computer graphics a shader is a small program that 'makes' shading and controls how light and color appear on 3D images.