what the word "shader" refers to

[agrmrs]

hi friends, i'm again with a tiny question ...what i only know is, when some textures are added to a shader it becomes a material....so i think any kind of surface has their own unique behaviors ( shininess , smoothness etc )...is that what shader means ? if not plez gimme a little explanation what "shader" refers to....thanx

[Hirazi Blue]

Two definitions:
1) From the Softimage User's Guide ("Shaders > Shader Basics"):

A shader is a miniature computer program that controls the behavior of the rendering software during, or immediately after (in the case of output shaders), the rendering process.

2) From the Wikipedia

A shader is a miniature computer program that controls the behavior of the rendering software during, or immediately after (in the case of output shaders), the rendering process.

On the topic of Materials, the User's Guide has the following to say:

For discussion purposes, the term “material” is used to refer to the cumulative effect of all of the shaders that you use to alter an object’s look and feel. Strictly speaking, though, materials in Softimage are really just containers for, or connection points to, an object’s various attributes.

Quoted from: "Shaders > Materials and Surface Shaders > About Materials"

;)

[agrmrs]

thank u so much mate .....