OpenGL terminology refers to the specific vocabulary and concepts used in OpenGL, a cross-platform API for rendering 2D and 3D graphics. Here's a breakdown of some key terms:
Vertex: A point in 3D space that defines the corners of geometric shapes.
Shader: A small program executed on the GPU that controls various stages of the rendering pipeline. Common types include vertex shaders, fragment shaders, and compute shaders.
Buffer: A memory storage area for holding data such as vertex coordinates, colors, and texture information. Common types include vertex buffers and index buffers.
Texture: An image applied to a 3D model's surface to provide detail, like color or bumpiness.
Framebuffer: An off-screen buffer that stores the output of rendering operations before it is displayed on the screen. It includes color, depth, and stencil buffers.
Render Target: The destination where rendering results are drawn, often a framebuffer or texture.
Primitive: Basic geometric shapes like points, lines, and triangles used to construct more complex objects.
Vertex Array Object (VAO): An object that stores the state related to vertex attribute configuration.
Vertex Buffer Object (VBO): A buffer that holds vertex data, such as positions, normals, and texture coordinates.
Index Buffer Object (IBO): A buffer that stores indices to optimize the rendering of complex meshes by reusing vertices.
Uniform: A variable used to pass data from the CPU to shaders that remain constant for all processed vertices or fragments during a single draw call.
GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language): The programming language used to write shaders for OpenGL.
These terms are fundamental for understanding how OpenGL handles rendering and graphics processing.
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