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We have seen ever-increasing graphics performance in PCs since the release of the first 3dfx Voodoo cards in 1995. Although this performance increase has allowed PCs to run graphics faster, it arguably has not allowed graphics to run much better. The fundamental limitation thus far in PC graphics accelerators has been that they are mostly fixed-function. Fixed-function means that the silicon designers have hard-coded specific graphics algorithms into the graphics chips, and as a result the game and application developers have been limited to using these specific fixed algorithms. For over a decade, a graphics language known as Photorealistic RenderMan from Pixar Animation Studio has withstood the test of time and has been the choice of professionals for high-quality photo-realistic rendering. Pixar's use of RenderMan in its development of feature films such as "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life" has resulted in a level of photorealistic graphics which have amazed audiences worldwide. RenderMan's programmability has allowed it to evolve as major new rendering techniques were invented. By not imposing strict limits on computations, RenderMan allows programmers the utmost in flexibility and creativity. However, this programmability has limited RenderMan to only software implementations. Now, for the first time, low-cost consumer hardware has reached the point where it can begin implementing the basics of programmable shading similar to the RenderMan graphics language with real-time performance. The principal 3D APIs (DirectX and OpenGL) have evolved alongside graphics hardware. One of the most important new features in DirectX Graphics is the addition of a programmable pipeline that provides an assembly language interface to the transformation and lighting hardware (vertex shader) and the pixel pipeline (pixel shader). This programmable pipeline gives the developer a lot more freedom to do things, which have never been seen in real time applications before. Shader programming is the new and real challenge for Game-Coders. Face it ... What You Are Going To Learn This introduction covers the fundamentals of Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader Programming. You are going to learn here all the stuff necessary to start programming vertex and pixel shaders for the Windows-family of operating systems from scratch. We will deal with Writing and compiling a vertex shader program Lighting with vertex shaders Transformation with vertex shaders Writing and compiling a pixel shader program Texture mapping with the pixel shader Texture effects Per-pixel lighting with pixel shaders and much more ... What You Need to Know/Equipment You need a basic understanding of the math typically used in a game engine and you need a basic to intermediate understanding of the DirectX Graphics API. It helps if you know how to use the Transform & Lighting (T&L) pipeline and the SetTextureStageState() calls. If you need help with these topics, I recommend working through an introductory level text first. For example "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming" might help :-). Your development system should consist of the following hardware and software: DirectX 8.1 SDK Windows 2000 with at least Service Pack 2 or higher or Windows XP Professional (the NVIDIA Shader debugger only runs on these operating systems)  Visual C/C++ 6.0 with at least Service Pack 5 (needed for the DirectX 8.1 SDK) or higher more than 128 MB RAM a least 500 MB of hard drive storage a hardware accelerated 3D graphics card: To be able to get the maximum visual experience of this course examples, you need to own relatively new graphics hardware. The pixel shader examples will only run properly on GeForce3/4TI or RADEON 8x00 board at the time of this writing the NEWEST graphics card device-driver If you are not a lucky owner of a GeForce3/4TI, RADEON 8x00 or an equivalent graphics card (that supports Shaders in hardware), the standardized assembly interface will provide highly-tuned software vertex shaders that AMD and Intel have optimized for their CPUs. These software implementations should jump in, when there is no vertex shader capable hardware found. There is no comparable software-emulation fallback path for pixel shaders. How This Introduction is Organized We work through the fundamentals to a more advanced level in four chapters, first for vertex shaders and later for pixel shaders. Our road map looks like this: Fundamentals of Vertex Shaders Programming Vertex Shaders Fundamentals of Pixel Shaders Programming Pixel Shaders Let's start by examining the place of vertex shaders in the Direct3D pipeline ... Vertex Shaders in the Pipeline

Contents   Introduction   Vertex Shaders in the Pipeline   Vertex Shader Tools   Vertex Shader Architecture   High Level View of Vertex Shader Programming   Conclusion   Printable version   Discuss this article The Series   Fundamentals of Vertex Shaders   Programming Vertex Shaders   Fundamentals of Pixel Shaders   Programming Pixel Shaders   Diffuse & Specular Lighting with Pixel Shaders