Content deleted Content added
m interwiki |
The three grass blades are sprites that have been 'pre-rendered'. The original images were create in a computer but the objects are added to this scene as sprites. |
||
Line 2:
Sprites were originally invented as a method of quickly compositing several images together in two-dimensional [[video game]]s using special hardware. As computer performance improved, this optimization became unnecessary and the term evolved to refer specifically to the two dimensional images themselves that were integrated into a scene. That is, figures generated by either custom hardware or by software alone were all referred to as sprites. As three-dimensional graphics became more prevalent, the term was used to describe a technique whereby flat images are seamlessly integrated into complicated three-dimensional scenes.
[[Image:SpriteExamplefromZelda.jpg|thumb|right|An example of sprite animation from the popular game [[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker]]. In this frame the brown puffs of smoke and the grass are integrated into the scene using sprites. Other objects in the frame such as the character (Link), the flower just behind his feet, and the rock walls and ground are more complicated three dimensional objects that employ [[texture mapping]]. (Notice that one sprite at the bottom of the largest puff of smoke is actually cutting into the ground, revealing its actual geometry.)]]
More often a sprite now refers to a partially transparent two dimensional animation that is mapped onto a special plane in a three dimensional scene. Unlike a [[texture mapping|texture map]], the sprite plane is always perpendicular to the axis emanating from the camera. The image can be scaled to simulate [[perspective]], it can be rotated two dimensionally, it can overlap other objects and be [[occlusion|occluded]], but it can only ever be viewed from the same angle. This [[Rendering_%28computer_graphics%29|rendering]] method is also referred to as '''billboarding'''.
| |||