Usually graphics APIs abstract away these core concepts, but there's a lot of shifting responsibility between what you do and what the API/GPU does. It's good t

Usually graphics APIs abstract away these core concepts, but there's a lot of shifting responsibility between what you do and what the API/GPU does. It's good to have an idea what they're doing so you can better utilize the APIs, compare two different approaches, and often you'll find yourself hand-rolling aspects (like writing an exporter from something like Maya to be used in a realtime engine or converting Y-up data to Z-up data before sending it along).