Design of Modular Rendering Pipeline

From the user´s point-of-view, current graphics systems have a limited modularity of rendering pipelines. Users cannot assemble a custom rendering algorithm. In this paper, we propose a modular component based rendering pipeline with concepts of visual programming. We briefly define a general module-based architecture for visual programming in graphics systems focusing on rendering pipelines. We suggest improvements by a definition of new connection link types, which reduce the complexity of the modular scheme representing a particular rendering algorithm. Furthermore, we extend the existing logic of the scene by defining the rendering process as a scene element. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of our approach, and state particular fields worthy of application. Presented ideas are the results of our analysis. The respective prototype application is still in development.