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draw call

A single command telling the GPU to render a batch of geometry.

A draw call kicks off the graphics pipeline for some set of vertices: they flow through per-vertex shading, get assembled into triangles, and are rasterized into pixels. The number of draw calls per frame is a common performance concern, since each has overhead. It is the basic unit of 'draw this now.'

See also

  • depth testThe per-pixel check that decides whether a new surface is in front of what's already been drawn.
  • cullingThrowing away geometry the viewer can't see before spending time drawing it.
  • descriptor / descriptor setA grouped bundle of resource bindings handed to a shader together.

Referenced by

cube map · culling · depth buffer · depth test · descriptor · direct-binding I/O · dynamic rendering · elect / ballot