Shader Terms

We'll get you familiar with our shader features and common graphical terms.
If you're a beginner with little or no graphics knowledge, some feature names may sound confusing at first.
Have a look below.

Shader Term	Explanation
Texture	A texture is a 2D image used by a material or shader to store visual information such as colors, masks, normals, roughness, and more. The most common texture is the Albedo/Base Color texture, which gives a model its visible colors.
Culling	Culling is an optimization process that prevents the engine from drawing objects or surfaces that are not visible to the camera. In our shader, Backfaces are culled by default for better performance.
UV	UV refers to the 2D coordinate system used to place textures onto a 3D model. It tells the texture which part should appear on each area of the model.
Masks	Masks are textures used to tell an effect where it should appear and where it should not. They are usually grayscale textures where Black (0.0) = No effect, White (1.0) = Full effect, and Gray (0.1–0.9) = Partial blending or influence. Some advanced masks can also store multiple channels (RGBA masks) to control several effects in one texture.
Normal Map	A Normal Map is a special type of texture that creates the illusion of surface detail such as bumps, grooves, and scratches without adding extra geometry. There are DirectX and OpenGL variations. This engine uses the OpenGL format.
Emission	Emission makes a material appear to glow even in complete darkness. By default, emissive materials usually do not cast real light into the scene unless special lighting systems are used.
Rim Light	Rim Light (also called Fresnel Lighting) is an effect that highlights the edges of an object. It creates a bright outline or fringe around the model, helping it stand out from the background.
Matcap	Matcap is a technique that makes an object appear shaded and reflective without using real scene lighting. It uses a single circular texture that already contains baked lighting and reflection information.
Specular Reflections	Specular Reflection is the bright highlight that appears when light reflects directly toward the viewer. It is what makes surfaces look shiny, glossy, wet, or metallic.
PBR	PBR (Physically Based Rendering) is a shading method that simulates how light behaves in the real world. It uses physically accurate lighting rules so materials look consistent under different lighting conditions.
Cubemap	A Cubemap is a texture made from six square images that form a cube. Cubemaps are commonly used for Skyboxes, Reflections, and environmental lighting.
Ambient Occlusion	Ambient Occlusion (AO) is a shading technique that adds soft contact shadows in cracks, corners, and areas where surfaces are close together. It helps objects appear more grounded and detailed.
Parallax Occlusion	Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) is a technique that makes flat surfaces appear to have deep 3D detail without adding extra geometry. It works especially well for surfaces like bricks, tiles, rocks, or grooves.
Stencil	Stencil is a screen-space masking technique that controls where objects or effects can be drawn. It is commonly used for outlines, portals, layered rendering, and masking effects.

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