Final answer:
The two most common and popular shaders are vertex shaders, which process vertex positions, and fragment shaders, which calculate pixel characteristics for rendering the final image.
Step-by-step explanation:
The two most common and popular types of shaders in computer graphics are vertex shaders and fragment shaders. Vertex shaders process the vertices of a 3D model, determining their position in the 3D space of the scene. They handle transformations to place objects correctly with respect to the camera's viewpoint. Fragment shaders, also known as pixel shaders, calculate the color and other characteristics of each pixel, allowing for complex effects like textures, shading, and lighting to be applied to the final image.