Vertex Shader

Definitions

1. A GPU program that runs once per vertex in the graphics pipeline, transforming vertex positions from model space through view and projection matrices into clip space, and optionally computing per-vertex lighting, animation, or other attributes passed downstream to the rasterizer and fragment shader.

   In plain English: A small program that runs on the graphics card to position and transform each corner point of a 3D model before it gets drawn on screen.

   Example: "The skeletal animation runs entirely in the vertex shader — we upload the bone matrices as uniforms and let the GPU do the skinning."

Related Terms

• Shader
• WebGPU
• Compute Shader
• Fragment Shader
• Pixel Buffer
• Rasterization
• Render Pipeline
• Texture