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rasterizer
The GPU component that turns geometric shapes into the actual grid of pixels that fill them.
The rasterizer takes vector primitives — triangles defined by their corners — and figures out which pixels lie inside each one, generating a fragment for every covered pixel. It's the bridge from continuous geometry to the discrete screen. Everything after it works pixel by pixel; everything before works with vertices and shapes.
See also
- rasterizer / rasterizationThe process of converting shapes into fragments (pixel-sized pieces) for the GPU to color in.
- primitiveThe basic shape a GPU actually draws — a point, a line, or a triangle.
- pixel lane / fragment laneOne slot in the GPU's parallel machinery that processes a single pixel, several of which run side by side at once.
- pipelineThe ordered assembly line of stages a GPU runs to turn 3D geometry into the colored pixels on screen.
Referenced by
perspective divide · perspective-correct interpolation · pipeline · pixel lane / fragment lane · primitive · primitive assembly · rasterizer / rasterization