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Z-buffering
A z-buffer, also known as a depth buffer, is a type of data buffer used in computer graphics to store the depth information of fragments. The values stored represent the distance to the camera, with 0 being the closest. The encoding scheme may be flipped with the highest number being the value closest to camera. In a 3D-rendering pipeline, when an object is projected on the screen, the depth (z-value) of a generated fragment in the projected screen image is compared to the value already stored in the buffer (depth test), and replaces it if the new value is closer. It works in tandem with the rasterizer, which computes the colored values. The fragment output by the rasterizer is saved if it is not overlapped by another fragment. Z-buffering is a technique used in almost all contemporary computers, laptops, and mobile phones for generating 3D computer graphics. The primary use now is for video games, which require fast and accurate processing of 3D scenes. Usage Occlusion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shadow Mapping
Shadow mapping or shadowing projection is a process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics. This concept was introduced by Lance Williams in 1978, in a paper entitled "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces." Since then, it has been used both in pre-rendered and realtime scenes in many console and PC games. Shadows are created by testing whether a pixel is visible from the light source, by comparing the pixel to a z-buffer or ''depth'' image of the light source's view, stored in the form of a texture. Principle of a shadow and a shadow map If you looked out from a source of light, all the objects you can see would appear in light. Anything behind those objects, however, would be in shadow. This is the basic principle used to create a shadow map. The light's view is rendered, storing the depth of every surface it sees (the shadow map). Next, the regular scene is rendered comparing the depth of every point drawn (as if it were being seen by the light, rather than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Z-fighting
Demonstration of z-fighting with multiple colors and textures over a grey background Z-fighting, also called stitching or planefighting, is a phenomenon in 3D rendering that occurs when two or more primitives have very similar distances to the camera. This would cause them to have near-similar or identical values in the z-buffer, which keeps track of depth. This then means that when a specific pixel is being rendered, it is ambiguous which one of the two primitives are drawn in that pixel because the z-buffer cannot distinguish precisely which one is farther from the other. If one pixel was unambiguously closer, the less close one could be discarded. It is particularly prevalent with coplanar polygons, where two faces occupy essentially the same space, with neither in front. As a result, affected pixels are rendered with fragments from one polygon or the other arbitrarily, in a manner determined by the precision of the z-buffer. It can also vary as the scene or camera is cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graphics Pipeline
The computer graphics pipeline, also known as the rendering pipeline, or graphics pipeline, is a framework within computer graphics that outlines the necessary procedures for transforming a three-dimensional (3D) scene into a two-dimensional (2D) representation on a screen. Once a 3D model is generated, the graphics pipeline converts the model into a visually perceivable format on the computer display. Due to the dependence on specific software, hardware configurations, and desired display attributes, a universally applicable graphics pipeline does not exist. Nevertheless, graphics application programming interfaces (APIs), such as Direct3D, OpenGL and Vulkan were developed to standardize common procedures and oversee the graphics pipeline of a given hardware accelerator. These APIs provide an abstraction layer over the underlying hardware, relieving programmers from the need to write code explicitly targeting various graphics hardware accelerators like AMD, Intel, Nvidia, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
8-bit Computing
In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data buses of that size. Memory addresses (and thus address buses) for 8-bit CPUs are generally larger than 8-bit, usually 16-bit. 8-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 8-bit microprocessors. The term '8-bit' is also applied to the character sets that could be used on computers with 8-bit bytes, the best known being various forms of extended ASCII, including the ISO/IEC 8859 series of national character sets especially Latin 1 for English and Western European languages. The IBM System/360 introduced byte-addressable memory with 8-bit bytes, as opposed to bit-addressable or decimal digit-addressable or word-addressable memory, although its general-purpose registers were 32 bits wide, and addresses were contained in the lower 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Smash Bros
is a series of platform fighting video games published by Nintendo. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series is a crossover featuring many characters from other video game series created by Nintendo and other developers. Its gameplay is distinct from traditional fighting games, with players aiming to knock each other off of stages after accumulating damage with numerous attacks. The games have also featured a variety of side modes, including single-player story modes. Sakurai conceived the idea of ''Super Smash Bros.'' while working at HAL Laboratory in 1998 with the help of Satoru Iwata. The series's first game, '' Super Smash Bros.'' (1999), was released for the Nintendo 64 and used characters from Nintendo franchises including '' Mario'', '' Donkey Kong'', ''The Legend of Zelda'', '' Kirby'', and '' Pokémon''. The game was a success, and Sakurai was asked to make a sequel for the then-upcoming GameCube, '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'', which wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the N64 was the last major home console to use ROM cartridges as its primary storage medium. As a fifth-generation console, the Nintendo 64 primarily competed with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's PlayStation (console), PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. Development of the N64 began in 1993 in collaboration with Silicon Graphics, initially codenamed Project Reality and later tested as the Ultra 64 arcade platform. The console was named for its 64-bit CPU. Although its design was largely finalized by mid-1995, the console’s release was delayed until 1996 to allow for the completion of the console's launch titles, ''Super Mario 64'', ''Pilotwings 64'', and the Japan-exclusive ''Saikyō Habu Shōgi.'' The N6 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lossless Compression
Lossless compression is a class of data compression that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data with no loss of information. Lossless compression is possible because most real-world data exhibits statistical redundancy. By contrast, lossy compression permits reconstruction only of an approximation of the original data, though usually with greatly improved compression rates (and therefore reduced media sizes). By operation of the pigeonhole principle, no lossless compression algorithm can shrink the size of all possible data: Some data will get longer by at least one symbol or bit. Compression algorithms are usually effective for human- and machine-readable documents and cannot shrink the size of random data that contain no redundancy. Different algorithms exist that are designed either with a specific type of input data in mind or with specific assumptions about what kinds of redundancy the uncompressed data are likely to contain. Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandwidth (computing)
In computing, bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. Bandwidth may be characterized as network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth. This definition of ''bandwidth'' is in contrast to the field of signal processing, wireless communications, modem data transmission, digital communications, and electronics, in which ''bandwidth'' is used to refer to the signal bandwidth measured in hertz, meaning the frequency range between lowest and highest attainable frequency while meeting a well-defined impairment level in signal power. The actual bit rate that can be achieved depends not only on the signal bandwidth but also on the noise on the channel. Network capacity The term ''bandwidth'' sometimes defines the net bit rate ''peak bit rate'', ''information rate'', or physical layer ''useful bit rate'', channel capacity, or the maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital communication system. For example, bandwi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Catmull
Edwin Earl Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist and animator who served as the co-founder of Pixar and the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, including the 2019 ACM Turing Award. Early life Edwin Catmull was born on March 31, 1945, in Parkersburg, West Virginia. His family later moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where his father first served as principal of Granite High School and then of Taylorsville High School. Early in his life, Catmull found inspiration in Disney movies, including '' Peter Pan'' and ''Pinocchio'', and wanted to be an animator; however, after finishing high school, he had no idea how to get there as there were no animation schools around that time. Because he also liked math and physics, he chose a scientific career instead. He also made animation using flip-books. Catmull graduated in 1969, with a B.S. in physics and computer science from the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viewing Frustum
In 3D computer graphics, a viewing frustum or view frustum is the region of space in the modeled world that may appear on the screen; it is the field of view of a perspective virtual camera system. The view frustum is typically obtained by taking a geometrical frustum—that is a truncation with parallel planes—of the pyramid of vision, which is the adaptation of (idealized) '' cone of vision'' that a camera or eye would have to the rectangular viewports typically used in computer graphics. Some authors use ''pyramid of vision'' as a synonym for view frustum itself, i.e. consider it truncated. The exact shape of this region varies depending on what kind of camera lens is being simulated, but typically it is a frustum of a rectangular pyramid (hence the name). The planes that cut the frustum perpendicular to the viewing direction are called the ''near plane'' and the ''far plane''. Objects closer to the camera than the near plane or beyond the far plane are not drawn. Somet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
