Computer graphics (computer science): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:53, 20 March 2002

Revision as of 09:27, 20 March 2002

Line 1:

'''Computer graphics''' is the field of synthesising or augmenting imagery through digital means, either for [[Computer-generated art|artistic]] or [[Information visualization|scientific]] purposes.

The first computer graphics were the output of text and numbers on electronic displays, though computer graphics today typically refers to creating images and not text. Today thisThis field can be divided into two general areas: real-time rendering, and [[3d3D computer graphics|non real-time rendering]]. Development in computer graphics was first fueled by academic interests and government sponsorship. However, as real-world applications of computer graphics(CG) in broadcast television and movies proved a viable alternative to more traditional special effects and animation techniques, commercial parties have increasingly funded advances in the field.

Some major advances in computer graphics have been:

* Flat shading, a technique that shades each polygon of an object based on the polygon's "normal" and the position and intensity of a light source.

* Gourard shading, invented by Gourard in 1971, a fast and resource-conscious vertex shading technique used to simulate smoothly shaded surfaces.

* Phong shading, invented by Wu Tong Phong, used to simulate specular highlights.

* Bump mapping, invented by Jim Blinn, a normal-perturbation technique used to simulate wrinkled surfaces.

* Ray-tracing, a shading technique used to simulate reflection and transparency.

* The Monte-Carlo gathering technique for simulating realistic light sources, also called global illumination or radiosity.

Several important topics in [[2D computer graphics|2D]] and [[3D computer graphics|3D]] graphics include: