Small programs that run on a graphics card and compute the color of every pixel, or the position of every point, in parallel. They make complex real-time imagery possible.
Shaders is like a computational language designed for geometry, color and light—it's the language of light.
Patricio González Vivo, Jen Lowe and Patricio González Vivo on Democratizing Knowledge
Shaders was this very niche knowledge. There were a lot of industry trade secrets between computer science, PhDs and very specific people working in the game industry. This knowledge was very gated.
Patricio González Vivo, Jen Lowe and Patricio González Vivo on Democratizing Knowledge