Graphics & Rendering Rendering Pipeline ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RENDERING PIPELINE │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ VERTEX STAGE: │ │ Model Space → World Space → View Space → Clip Space │ │ ↓ │ │ RASTERIZATION: Triangles → Fragments │ │ ↓ │ │ FRAGMENT STAGE: Color, Lighting, Texturing │ │ ↓ │ │ OUTPUT: Final pixel color to framebuffer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Shader Programming Standard PBR Shader (HLSL) // ✅ Production-Ready: PBR Surface Shader struct SurfaceData { float3 Albedo; float3 Normal; float Metallic; float Roughness; float AO; };
float3 FresnelSchlick(float cosTheta, float3 F0) { return F0 + (1.0 - F0) * pow(1.0 - cosTheta, 5.0); }
float DistributionGGX(float3 N, float3 H, float roughness) { float a = roughness * roughness; float a2 = a * a; float NdotH = max(dot(N, H), 0.0); float NdotH2 = NdotH * NdotH;
float denom = (NdotH2 * (a2 - 1.0) + 1.0);
return a2 / (PI * denom * denom);
}
float4 PBRLighting(SurfaceData surface, float3 viewDir, float3 lightDir) { float3 H = normalize(viewDir + lightDir); float3 F0 = lerp(0.04, surface.Albedo, surface.Metallic);
float D = DistributionGGX(surface.Normal, H, surface.Roughness);
float3 F = FresnelSchlick(max(dot(H, viewDir), 0.0), F0);
float3 diffuse = surface.Albedo * (1.0 - surface.Metallic);
float3 specular = D * F;
return float4((diffuse + specular) * surface.AO, 1.0);
}
Toon/Cel Shader // ✅ Production-Ready: Toon Shader float4 ToonShading(float3 normal, float3 lightDir, float4 baseColor) { float NdotL = dot(normal, lightDir);
// Step function for cel shading
float toonRamp;
if (NdotL > 0.7) toonRamp = 1.0;
else if (NdotL > 0.3) toonRamp = 0.6;
else if (NdotL > 0.0) toonRamp = 0.3;
else toonRamp = 0.1;
return baseColor * toonRamp;
}
// Outline pass (inverted hull method) float4 OutlineVertex(float4 position, float3 normal, float outlineWidth) { position.xyz += normal * outlineWidth; return position; }
Visual Effects (VFX) Particle System Setup PARTICLE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ EMITTER: Rate, Bursts, Shape │ │ ↓ │ │ SPAWN: Initial velocity, Size, Color, Lifetime │ │ ↓ │ │ UPDATE: Forces, Collisions, Color over life │ │ ↓ │ │ RENDER: Billboard, Mesh, Trail │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
COMMON VFX RECIPES: ┌────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Fire │ Orange→Yellow gradient, upward velocity │ │ Smoke │ Gray billboards, turbulence noise │ │ Sparks │ Point emitter, gravity, short lifetime │ │ Magic │ Spiral path, glow, color cycling │ │ Blood │ Burst, gravity, decal on collision │ └────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Optimization Techniques Technique Draw Call Reduction When to Use Static Batching 90%+ Static geometry Dynamic Batching 50-80% Small moving objects GPU Instancing 95%+ Many identical objects LOD System 40-60% Distant objects Occlusion Culling 30-70% Indoor scenes LOD Configuration LOD DISTANCE SETUP: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ LOD0 (100% tris): 0-20m → Full detail │ │ LOD1 (50% tris): 20-50m → Reduced detail │ │ LOD2 (25% tris): 50-100m → Low detail │ │ LOD3 (10% tris): 100m+ → Billboard/Impostor │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
🔧 Troubleshooting ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROBLEM: Too many draw calls (>2000) │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SOLUTIONS: │ │ → Enable GPU instancing for repeated objects │ │ → Use texture atlases │ │ → Merge static meshes │ │ → Implement LOD system │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROBLEM: Shader artifacts / visual glitches │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SOLUTIONS: │ │ → Check for division by zero │ │ → Validate normal vectors │ │ → Use saturate() on color outputs │ │ → Check texture sampling modes │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Platform Guidelines Platform Max Draw Calls Shader Complexity Texture Size Mobile 100-200 Low 1024px max Console 2000-3000 High 4096px PC 3000-5000 Very High 8192px VR 100-150 Low 2048px
Use this skill: When creating shaders, optimizing visuals, or implementing effects.