RenderingPipelines

RenderingPipelines refer to the sequence of processing stages used to convert 3D scene data into a 2D image on a render target. They define the flow of data from the application's draw calls through programmable and fixed-function stages inside the GPU, guiding how vertices, fragments, and other resources are transformed into pixels.

A typical graphics rendering pipeline includes input assembly, vertex processing, primitive assembly, optional tessellation, optional geometry shading, rasterization, fragment shading, and per-fragment tests such as depth and stencil, followed by blending into the frame buffer. In modern pipelines, most of these stages are programmable via shader programs, while some stages remain fixed-function or controlled by pipeline state.

The pipeline is configured by a pipeline state object or equivalent construct, which records the active shaders, input formats, primitive topology, rasterization rules, depth-stencil state, blending, and render target formats. This encapsulation minimizes state changes during rendering and lets the GPU execute more efficiently by reducing branching and state validation overhead.

Different graphics APIs implement pipelines with similar concepts. DirectX 12 and Vulkan expose explicit graphics pipelines and pipeline state objects; Metal uses a comparable pipeline model. In addition to graphics pipelines, compute pipelines enable general-purpose GPU computation that operates outside rasterization.

RenderingPipelines are central to real-time rendering for games, simulations, and visualization. They influence performance and quality through shader workloads, resource management, and the manner in which rendering tasks are organized. Modern engines often employ render graphs and multiple render passes to coordinate several pipelines and targets within a frame.