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TCS / TES

The two GPU shader stages that control and then generate the extra geometry when a surface is subdivided.

Tessellation splits coarse input patches into finer triangles on the GPU. The Tessellation Control Shader (TCS) decides how finely to subdivide each patch; the fixed hardware then generates new vertices; and the Tessellation Evaluation Shader (TES) computes where each generated vertex actually lands. Together they let a GPU add detail dynamically without storing dense meshes.

See also

  • tessellationA GPU stage that subdivides coarse shapes into many finer triangles for extra detail.
  • tessellationShaderThe Vulkan on/off flag declaring whether a GPU driver actually supports tessellation.
  • topologyHow a GPU interprets a list of vertices — as separate points, connected lines, or triangles.

Referenced by

tessellation · tessellationShader · topology