What may be called graphics commands in other GPU architectures are instead called graphics objects in the NV3 and all other NVIDIA architectures.
I think this choice of terminology reflects both the era in which it was chosen (OOP was a huge trend back then), and the mindset of those who worked on the architecture (software-oriented). In contrast, Intel calls them commands/instructions/opcodes, as did the old 8514/A, arguably the one that started it all.
A specialized hardware accelerator for the manner by which Windows 95’s GDI (and its DIB Engine?) renders text.
Drawing text (from bitmap font data) is a very common 2D accelerator feature.
Nvidia did have a very ambitious abstraction which encompassed audio as well. As a low level rendering engineer at the time, I found their documentation to be quite challenging as I didn't jibe with their mindset and nomenclature.
I think this choice of terminology reflects both the era in which it was chosen (OOP was a huge trend back then), and the mindset of those who worked on the architecture (software-oriented). In contrast, Intel calls them commands/instructions/opcodes, as did the old 8514/A, arguably the one that started it all.
A specialized hardware accelerator for the manner by which Windows 95’s GDI (and its DIB Engine?) renders text.
Drawing text (from bitmap font data) is a very common 2D accelerator feature.