Some major advances in computer graphics have been:
*; Flat shading,Shading: aA technique that shades each polygon of an object based on the polygon's "normal" and the position and intensity of a light source.
*; Gourard[[Gouraud shading,Shading]]: inventedInvented by GourardH. Gouraud in 1971, a fast and resource-conscious vertex shading technique used to simulate smoothly shaded surfaces.
*; [[Phong shading,Shading]]: inventedInvented by Wu Tong Phong, used to simulate specular highlights adn smooth shaded surfaces.
*; [[Bump mapping,Mapping]]: inventedInvented by [[Jim Blinn]], a normal-perturbation technique used to simulate wrinkled surfaces.
*; [[Ray-tracing,aTracing]]: A shading technique used to simulate reflection and transparency.
*; [[Global Illumination,]]: coveringCovering the techniques of Monte-Carlo gathering and radiosity for simulating realistic light sources.
Several important topics in [[2D computer graphics|2D]] and [[3D computer graphics|3D]] graphics include:
