Shader-driven compilation of rendering assets

Rendering performance of consumer graphics hardware benefits from pre-processing geometric data into a form targeted to the underlying API and hardware. The various elements of geometric data are then coupled with a shading program at runtime to draw the asset. In this paper we describe a system in which pre-processing is done in a compilation process in which the geometric data are processed with knowledge of their shading programs. The data are converted into structures targeted directly to the hardware, and a code stream is assembled that describes the manipulations required to render these data structures. Our compiler is structured like a traditional code compiler, with a front end that reads the geometric data and attributes (hereafter referred to as an art asset) output from a 3D modeling package and shaders in a platform independent form and performs platform-independent optimizations, and a back end that performs platform-specific optimizations and generates platform-targeted...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: TOG
• Authors: Paul Lalonde, Eric Schenk
• Keywords: Assets, Computer Graphics, Geometric Data, TOG 2002