Summary

This PR adds a new tutorial page, The rendering pipeline, as the first entry in the Shaders section.

It serves as an introduction to the graphics pipeline and explains many foundational concepts in 3D rendering.

Hence it does not directly relate to a specific Godot topic, but serves a similar intent to other existing tutorials like the ones about linear algebra or matrices and transformations.

Why I think this page is needed

I'm somewhat new to Godot (1 year) and have been building a 3D game that relies heavily on compute shaders and custom rendering. Godot was my entry point into game development and I had no prior knowledge of shaders or how basic 3D rendering works.

During development, I repeatedly hit areas where the official documentation assumed GPU knowledge it did not really provide. I often found myself reading engine source code to piece together foundational concepts that weren't covered in the manual yet, or looking for clarifications on forums or Reddit.

Godot does a great deal of abstracting away the pipeline, which is helpful for beginners. But it can leave users without the vocabulary they need to tackle more technical topics later on.

I had trouble understanding some parts of the manual, and it only "clicked" when I got a better understanding of the general pipeline:

• the Introduction to shaders doesn't explain why the GPU separates vertex and fragment processing, what a fragment really is (vs. a pixel), or what "projecting geometry onto the screen" involves.
• the Compositor page references control over the rendering pipeline, which assumes readers know what that pipeline consists of.
• the Spatial shader page references coordinate spaces and transformation matrices that are easier to follow with pipeline context.
• the "Render Modes" section includes values tied to pipeline stages (blend modes, depth tests, face culling) that are hard to reason about without pipeline context.

Users who already understand GPU rendering find Godot's docs adequate, while users who don't, need to look for this knowledge elsewhere.

I'd wager many Godot users are like me: Godot is their entry point into game dev and 3D rendering, and the excellent Godot documentation is a reference for all related topics. For such users, I think not having some basic explanation about foundational 3D rendering concepts is a gap.

My intent is to help fill that gap by providing the missing foundation directly where readers need it — right before they encounter shaders for the first time.

Approach

I tried to follow these guidelines:

Simplification. This is quite a complex topic but I tried to make it understandable to newcomers by simplifying it without dumbing it down.

Connecting to Godot. I tried to achieve a good balance between staying unspecific (as this is general knowledge) but also linking to specific Godot systems or options when I thought it would be relevant. I also tried to focus the page on concepts that could directly be useful to Godot users.

Self-contained. I tried to formulate the content in a way that would not require readers to fetch some missing information elsewhere.

Flowing. I also tried to structure the page so no concepts would be used before being explained.

Aimed at beginners. I tried to assume no knowledge from readers, and to make the content accessible to users with the most basic level of 3D rendering.

A few questions

A few open questions where I could benefit from feedback.

Word count. The page is around 2100 words which exceeds the 1000-word guideline. I considered splitting but couldn't find a way that it would feel right.

Toc placement. I was not sure where to put the page in the toc tree, since this is a general knowledge topic. It felt right to put it before shaders are introduced.

Illustration. I initially drafted a few illustrations but a single one remains. I couldn't find ways to convey better information with other images. Let me know if any section would benefit from a diagram.

Links. I feel a few places in Godot's documentation could link to this page, but I didn't know if this very PR was the correct place to do it.

AI disclosure

I used Claude throughout this contribution with the following tasks:

• analyzing existing docs to identify pages that might relate to the current topic
• analyzing Godot's own source code to verify that explanations match actual Godot behavior
• reviewing the content, flagging inaccuracies or possible errors
• checking compliance with existing guidelines
• drafting, reformulating content, and basically polishing formulations since English is not my native language

I was adamant to not submit AI slop, spent about three days on this content and iterated dozens of times until I was satisfied. The content, structure, and editorial judgment are mine and I'm a human (what a crazy thing to have to say).

So…

I really fell in love with Godot and this is my first real contribution attempt. I tried to follow the guidelines and hope I didn't forget anything.

I did my best to not waste maintainers' time and am ready to tackle suggestions you might have. Thank you for your attention.