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fixed-function tessellator
The tessellator is a non-programmable GPU stage that subdivides coarse patches into many small triangles.
Tessellation adds surface detail by breaking large primitives into finer ones, controlled by tessellation levels you supply. Unlike shaders, the tessellator itself is 'fixed-function': you cannot write code for it, only feed it parameters and let its hardwired logic generate the new vertices. Programmable tessellation control and evaluation shaders sit on either side of it to steer and position the results.
See also
- fragment shaderA fragment shader is a small program the GPU runs for every fragment to decide its final color.
- geometry shaderA geometry shader is a programmable GPU stage that can take a primitive and emit new primitives from it.
- indexed drawAn indexed draw renders geometry using a list of indices that reference a shared pool of vertices, so vertices can be reused.