Some major advances in computer graphics have been:
; [[Flat Shadingshading]]: A technique that shades each polygon of an object based on the polygon's "normal" and the position and intensity of a light source.
; [[Gouraud Shadingshading]]: Invented by H. Gouraud in 1971, a fast and resource-conscious vertex shading technique used to simulate smoothly shaded surfaces.
; [[Texture Mappingmapping]]: A technique for simulating a large amount of surface detail by mapping images (textures) onto polygons.
; [[Phong Shadingshading]]: Invented by Wu Tong Phong, used to simulate specular highlights and smooth shaded surfaces.
; [[Bump Mappingmapping]]: Invented by [[Jim Blinn]], a normal-perturbation technique used to simulate wrinkled surfaces.
; [[Raytracing]]: A shading technique used to simulate reflection and transparency.
; [[Global Illuminationillumination]]: Covering 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:
