texeldata

Texeldata is a term used to describe per-texel information associated with a texture in digital graphics. In practice, texeldata encompasses the channels and attributes that accompany each texel (texture element) beyond its base color, such as normal, height, metallic, roughness, ambient occlusion, emission, or custom metadata. It is used to organize, store, and access per-texel properties that influence rendering, shading, or asset workflows.

Data model and storage: Texeldata can be stored within traditional texture formats (for example, multiple channels in RGBA textures), in higher-precision textures, or as separate buffers. It may be packed into texture atlases, array textures, or shader-resource buffers. Access is typically performed via texture sampling or, in advanced pipelines, via texel fetch operations that retrieve data for a given texel coordinate.

Encoding considerations: Compression (such as BC or ASTC) and precision impact the fidelity of texeldata. Designers balance memory usage, bandwidth, and access latency. For per-texel metadata, non-color channels or auxiliary textures are common solutions, especially when attributes exceed the capacity of standard color channels.

Applications and workflow: Texeldata supports physically based rendering, detail materials, lightmaps, and post-processing effects where per-texel attributes drive shading decisions. It enables dynamic material variation, procedural texturing, and efficient storage of complex material networks, aiding asset creation and runtime flexibility in modern rendering pipelines.

See also: texel, texture, shader, texture sampling, texture compression.