Texture mappingTexture mapping is a term used in computer graphics to describe how 2D images are projected onto 3D models. The most common variant is the UV unwrap, which can be described as an inverse paper cutout, where the surfaces of a 3D model are cut apart so that it can be unfolded into a 2D coordinate space (UV space).
NvidiaNvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The company develops graphics processing units (GPUs), systems on chips (SoCs), and application programming interfaces (APIs) for data science, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and mobile and automotive applications. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem, Nvidia has been widely described as a Big Tech company.
Graphics cardExpansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device A modern high-end consumer graphics card: a Founders Edition GeForce RTX 5080 from NVIDIA A graphics card, also known as a video card, display card, graphics accelerator, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, or display adapter GPU, is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a display device such as a monitor.
Graphics processing unitA graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a component on a discrete graphics card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles.
OpenGLOpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platformapplication programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3Dvector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardware-acceleratedrendering. Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) began developing OpenGL in 1991 and released it on June 30, 1992.
Direct3DAPI used in Microsoft DirectX for 3D renderingDirect3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware acceleration if available on the graphics card, allowing for hardware acceleration of the entire 3D rendering pipeline or even only partial acceleration.
3dfx3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3Dgraphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the field from the mid 1990s to 2000. The company's original product was the Voodoo Graphics, an add-in card that implemented hardware acceleration of 3D graphics.
Scan-Line InterleaveScan-Line Interleave (SLI) is a multi-GPU method developed by 3DFX for linking two (or more) video cards or chips together to produce a single output. It is an application of parallel processing for computer graphics, meant to increase the processing power available for graphics. 3DFX's SLI technology was first introduced in 1998 with the Voodoo2 line of graphics accelerators. The original Voodoo Graphics card and the VSA-100 were also SLI-capable.
3D computer graphics3D computer graphics, sometimes called 3D computer-generated imagery (3D-CGI), refers to computer graphics that use a three-dimensional (3D) representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering digital images, usually 2D images but sometimes 3D images. The resulting images may be stored for viewing later (possibly as an animation) or displayed in real time.
RIVA TNTThe RIVA TNT, codenamed NV4, is a 2D, video, and 3D graphics accelerator chip for PCs that was developed by Nvidia, announced in March 1998 and released at the end of August 1998. It cemented Nvidia's reputation as a worthy rival within the developing consumer 3D graphics adapter industry. It succeeded the RIVA 128. RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator.
Warp3DWarp3D was a project founded by Haage & Partner in 1998 that aimed to provide a standard API that would enable programmers to access, and therefore use, 3D hardware on the Amiga. Its design was similar to that of both the Picasso96 graphics card drivers and operated in a similar fashion to the 3dfxGlide API, which provided a uniform and standardised way for programmers to create software for the 3D graphics cards that were available at the time.Open sourceOpen source is the practice of publishing digital resources publicly alongside their source code or source files, enabling use, study, modification, and redistribution. It is historically and commonly associated with open-source software. The concept has also been applied beyond software to other digital resources made available alongside their source files or design documents, such as open-source hardware, open-source educational resources or open-source fonts.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.