Glossary

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This page lists words that are frequently encountered in the context of OpenGL use, in alphabetical order.

ARB
OpenGL Architecture Review Board.
Buffer Object
An object that represents a linear array of memory, which is stored in the GPU. There are numerous ways to have the GPU access data in a buffer object.
Drawing Command
Any OpenGL function of the form gl*Draw*. These are a subset of rendering commands. These functions send vertices through OpenGL to be rendered.
Context, OpenGL
A collection of state, memory and resources. Required to do any OpenGL operation.
GL
Shorthand for OpenGL.
GLU
GL Utility, an OpenGL helper library. Outdated; use other tools instead.
GLUT
GL Utility Toolkit. A library for creating OpenGL contexts and windows, as well as other things. Outdated; use FreeGLUT or other window creation systems instead.
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit, a piece of hardware for graphics.
Interface Block
A group of global definitions in a shader that represent a discrete, named interface, either between shader stages or between a shader and a buffer object.
Level, Mipmap
One of the mipmaps within a Texture.
Layer, Array
One index within the array of images stored in an array texture.
OpenGL
A cross-platform graphics system with an openly available specification.
OpenGL Context
The object that represents an instance of OpenGL. Contains all of the global state for OpenGL. Multiple contexts can be created and used.
OpenGL ES
OpenGL for Embedded Systems. An OpenGL based specification for systems such as mobile phones.
OpenGL Shading Language
The language for writing Shaders in OpenGL.
Rendering command
OpenGL rendering commands are any Drawing command, Framebuffer blitting operations, Framebuffer clearing operations, and Compute dispatch operations.
Shader
A program, written in the OpenGL Shader Language, intended to run within OpenGL.
Texture
An OpenGL object that contains one or more images, all of which are stored in the same Image Format.
Vendor
The developer of an OpenGL implementation.