varying

Pluralvaryings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of vary.

   The signal strength was varying as the storm moved closer.

   Varying the recipe slightly, the chef produced a richer sauce.

   Note

   One -ing form does two jobs. It builds the progressive (the signal was varying), and it names the action as a noun (varying the recipe helped). Because vary works both with and without an object, either use can take one or stand alone: varying the dose, prices varying by region. Placed before a noun, it also acts as an adjective meaning "differing," as in varying degrees.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A type of variable used by a fragment shader to interpolate values across a primitive, producing effects such as gradients.

   The shader reads a varying to determine the interpolated color at each pixel.

   By declaring several varyings, the developer passed smooth gradients into the fragment stage.

   Note

   Graphics programmers made the verb form into a countable noun, so it takes a plural: varyings. In GLSL, a varying is written for each vertex and arrives at the fragment shader already blended across the primitive by the rasterizer. Each one has a cost. Patrick Cozzi and Christophe Riccio's OpenGL Insights (2012) warns that adding too many can drag on performance, since every one must be interpolated.

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