Shaders for computer games

• Main Author: Phua, Nicholas Weiyou.
• Other Authors: Seah Hock Soon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies::Computer graphics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/19284
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Today’s graphic cards with their increasingly powerful Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) continue to exert dominance over the CPU in field of high speed rendering. In retrospect, these hardware advances paved the way for a broad new range of algorithms adapted to running on the GPU to maximize efficiency. As researchers and enthusiasts experiment with innovative ideas in their quest for fast visual realism, a technique known as Deferred Shading that postpones lighting to a later stage has risen in popularity. The hype over the PC Game Crysis’ graphical effects led to scrutiny on certain features of which a unique solution to the slow running ambient occlusion algorithm was to shine and attract numerous followers. In this project, a study and implementation of the deferred shading technique was accomplished. To complement the project, a special effect called Screen Space Ambient Occlusion was demonstrated based on the nature of deferred shading. Finally, this report ends with a conclusion welcoming the above mentioned techniques and suggests researching new and upcoming ideas that may have the potential to replace the current methods.