3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

, the image plane is that

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * ''Planes' ...

in the world which is identified with the plane of the display monitor used to view the image that is being rendered. It is also referred to as

screen space This is a glossary of terms relating to computer graphics. For more general computer hardware terms, see glossary of computer hardware terms. 0–9 A B ...

. If one makes the analogy of taking a

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

to rendering a 3D image, the surface of the film is the image plane. In this case, the

viewing transformation In computer graphics, a computer graphics pipeline, rendering pipeline or simply graphics pipeline, is a conceptual model that describes what steps a graphics system needs to perform to render a 3D scene to a 2D screen. Once ...

is a

projection Projection, projections or projective may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphic ...

that maps the world onto the image plane. A rectangular region of this plane, called the viewing window or

viewport A viewport is a polygon viewing region in computer graphics. In computer graphics theory, there are two region-like notions of relevance when rendering some objects to an image. In textbook terminology, the '' world coordinate window'' is the area ...

, maps to the monitor. This establishes the mapping between

pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...

on the monitor and points (or rather, rays) in the 3D world. The plane is not usually an actual

geometric object Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...

in a 3D scene, but instead is usually a collection of target coordinates or dimensions that are used during the

rasterization In computer graphics, rasterisation (British English) or rasterization (American English) is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format (shapes) and converting it into a raster image (a series of pixels, dots or lines, whic ...

process so the final output can be displayed as intended on the physical screen. In

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

, the image plane is the plane that contains the object's projected image, and lies beyond the back focal plane.

References

External links

* 3D computer graphics {{Compu-graphics-stub

See also

References

External links