sample details

Description:

The number and types of lighting effects that can be applied to a given piece of geometry are limited only by the need to maintain an interactive framerate. In this sample, shader programs are run multiple times on individual pieces of geometry to enable hundreds of lights on a single piece of geometry.

Additive, multipass lighting techniques are not unique to programmable shader hardware, but shaders add additional flexibility in batching for performance. This sample uses blend states to add the effects of individual draws to the back buffer, allowing multiple draws to light the same piece of geometry.

Other items in the Shader Series

• Shader Series: Introduction (Article)
• Shader Series 1: Vertex Lighting
• Shader Series 2: Textures and Colors
• Shader Series 3: Per-Pixel Lighting
• Shader Series 4: Materials + Lights