---
name: godot-rendering-materials-shaders
description: Author Godot 4.6+ textures, materials, and shaders, and choose a renderer deliberately. Use for Forward+, Mobile, Compatibility, StandardMaterial3D, CanvasItem materials, shader uniforms, color space, lighting, and rendering performance.
---

# Rendering, materials, and shaders

Select renderer by target hardware before committing content features. Treat texture import,
material setup, and shader quality as one pipeline; profile on target hardware before increasing
lights, shadow maps, transparency, or post effects.

| Need | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Renderer/platform feature decision | [renderer selection](references/renderer-selection.md) |
| Texture import, PBR material and color data | [textures and materials](references/textures-materials.md) |
| Spatial/canvas/particle/sky shader authoring | [shader language](references/shader-language.md) |
| Draw, light, shadow and mobile constraints | [rendering performance](references/rendering-performance.md) |