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I've just started learning WebGL+Three.js. Does anyone know how similar this pipeline is to how it is done in a browser? (and how much of this is still true 9 y

• winterismute 6y ago
  The pipeline is essentially the same since what the article describes is the architectural abstraction modern GPUs implement. WebGL is essentially only a layer over the system GPU APIs (DirectX, OpenGL, Vulkan, btw the fact you are using WebGL does not mean you are using the OS OpenGL since, for example, on Windows most browsers use a SW component called ANGLE to translate WebGL calls into DirectX commands, due to the fact that the DirectX path on Windows is often more robust/performant) which are implemented by the driver, and thus are the main way to communicate with the HW and drive the graphics acceleration. This being said, you can learn WebGL and especially Three.js without knowing the pipeline as described there, but knowing it will help you understand some subtleties or if you ever want to move to a lower level.
• dragontamer 6y ago
  I haven't read this yet (and I'm not a graphics expert), but I expect this blog-series / WebGL to apply to DirectX11-era and OpenGL-era code (which still exists today). DirectX12 and Vulkan have changed the pipeline by making it more flexible, but still largely follow the vertex -> geometry -> pixel pipeline. Because the DirectX11 (and OpenGL) immediate-mode pipelines were used for so long, I expect that for the DECADES to come, the information in this blog will remain relevant (even if more efficient techniques advance the state of the art).