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Game Development vocabulary · Rendering, Graphics & Performance

Shader

Meaning in game development, with examples

/ˈʃeɪdər/nounCore term

In game development, shader means: A small program that runs on the graphics card and decides how surfaces look, for example their color, lighting, shine and transparency, or effects like water and fire.

In Turkish: shader, gölgelendirici

How it is used

Written in shading languages such as HLSL or GLSL, or built visually in shader graphs. Technical artists and graphics programmers write, compile and optimize shaders. In some PC games, players notice shader compilation as stutter.

Example sentences

  1. The water shader looks great, but it's too expensive for mobile.

  2. I wrote a simple shader that makes enemies flash white when they get hit.

Common collocations

  • write a shader
  • shader graph
  • water shader
  • compile shaders
  • shader compilation stutter
  • renderingThe process in which the computer turns a 3D or 2D scene, with its models, textures and lights, into the final image shown on the screen.
  • GPUShort for graphics processing unit: the chip that renders a game's images by running shaders and drawing millions of pixels every frame. The CPU handles most of the game logic.
  • textureA 2D image wrapped around a 3D model to give it color and surface detail, such as wood grain, skin or rust. Extra textures can control shine, bumps and roughness.
  • post-processingVisual effects applied to the whole image after the scene has been rendered, such as bloom, motion blur, color grading and depth of field.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Rendering, Graphics & Performance

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