Abstract: A pixel shader is operated to perform a first texture lookup in an index buffer to obtain a vertex index value for a geometric primitive to be displayed. The pixel shader is also operated to perform a second texture lookup in a vertex buffer to obtain vertex data, wherein the vertex data corresponds to the previously obtained vertex index value for the geometric primitive to be displayed. The first and second texture lookups are repeated by the pixel shader such that vertex data is obtained for each vertex required to define the geometric primitive to be displayed. The pixel shader is then operated to rasterize the geometric primitive to be displayed, wherein the rasterizing is performed using the vertex data previously obtained by the pixel shader.

Abstract: A pixel shader is operated to perform a first texture lookup in an index buffer to obtain a vertex index value for a geometric primitive to be displayed. The pixel shader is also operated to perform a second texture lookup in a vertex buffer to obtain vertex data, wherein the vertex data corresponds to the previously obtained vertex index value for the geometric primitive to be displayed. The first and second texture lookups are repeated by the pixel shader such that vertex data is obtained for each vertex required to define the geometric primitive to be displayed. The pixel shader is then operated to rasterize the geometric primitive to be displayed, wherein the rasterizing is performed using the vertex data previously obtained by the pixel shader.

Abstract: An application binary interface includes a descriptor specifying a binary shader for each pass of a multi-pass shader. The application binary interface also includes a graphics state of a graphics object for each pass of the multi-pass shader. The graphics state for the first pass is an initial graphics state of the graphics object. The graphics state for each subsequent pass specifies a change from the graphics state of a previous pass. The application binary interface further includes parameters for the binary shaders. The application binary interface links the binary shaders together based on the parameters. Further, the parameters of the binary shaders may be modified at run time to configure the multi-pass shader. The binary shader of each pass is then executed based on the graphics state and parameters of the pass to render the graphics object.

Abstract: A graphic structure having joint angles is manipulated from an initial configuration towards a goal configuration by a succession of iterations, in each of which an update configuration is derived from a prior configuration. A regular iteration determines at least one test configuration by modifying fewer than all of the joint angles of the prior configuration, determines, for each test configuration, an improvement value reflecting the improvement between the differences of the prior configuration and the test configuration with respect to the goal configuration, and selects a test configuration as the updated configuration based on the improvement values.