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Computer graphics ('''CG''') is the field of visual Computing , where one utilizes Computers both to generate visual Image s synthetically and to integrate or alter visual and spatial information sampled from the Real World . The first major advance in computer Graphics was the development of Sketchpad in 1962 by Ivan Sutherland . This field can be divided into several areas: Real-time 3D Rendering (often used in Video Games ), Computer Animation , video capture and video creation rendering, special effects editing (often used for Movie s and Television ), image editing, and Modeling (often used for Engineering and Medical purposes). Development in computer graphics was first fueled by Academic interests and Government sponsorship. However, as real-world applications of computer graphics 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. It is often thought that the first feature '' ( 1968 ), which attempted to show how computers would be much more graphical in the Future . However, all the "computer graphic" effects in that film were hand-drawn animation, and the special effects sequences were produced entirely with conventional optical and model effects. Perhaps the first use of computer graphics specifically to illustrate computer graphics was in '' Futureworld '' ( 1976 ), which included an Animation of a human face and hand--produced by Ed Catmull and Fred Parke at the University Of Utah . 2D See Also: 2D computer graphics The first advance in computer graphics was in the use of is a uniform 2-dimensional grid of Pixel s. Each pixel has a specific value such as, for instance, Brightness , Color , Transparency , or a combination of such values. A raster image has a finite Resolution of a specific number of rows and columns. Standard computer displays shows a raster image of Resolution s such as 1280(columns)x1024(rows) of pixels. Today, one often combines raster and vector graphics in compound file formats ( Pdf , Swf ). 3D See Also: 3D computer graphics With the birth of Workstation computers (like LISP Machine s, Paintbox computers and Silicon Graphics workstations) came 3D Computer Graphics , based on Vector Graphics . Instead of the computer storing information about points, lines, and curves on a 2-dimensional plane, the computer stores the location of points, lines, and, typically, faces (to construct a Polygon ) in 3-dimensional space. 3-dimensional polygons are the lifeblood of virtually all 3D computer graphics. As a result, most 3D graphics engines are based around storing points (single 3-dimensional Coordinate s), lines that connect those points together, faces defined by the lines, and then a sequence of faces to create 3D polygons. Modern-day computer graphics software goes far beyond just the simple storage of polygons in computer Memory . Today's graphics are not only the product of massive collections of polygons into recognizable shapes, but they also result from techniques in Shading , Texturing , and Rasterization . SHADING The process of shading (in the context of 3D computer graphics) involves the computer simulating (or, more accurately, calculating) how the faces of a polygon will look when illuminated by a virtual Light source. The exact calculation varies depending on not only what data is available about the face being shaded, but also the shading technique. IMAGE-BASED RENDERING Computer graphics is all about obtaining 2D images from 3D models. In order to get highly accurate and photo-realistic images, the input 3D models should be very accurate in terms of , an IBR technique from University Of Southern California . Andrew Zisserman, et. al from Oxford University used machine learning concepts for IBR.
TEXTURING Polygon surfaces (the sequence of faces) can contain data corresponding to not only a color but, in more advanced software, can be a virtual canvas for a picture, or other rasterized image. Such an image is placed onto a face, or series of faces, and is called a Texture . Textures add a new degree of customization as to how a faces and polygons will ultimately look after being shaded, depending on the shading method, and how the image is interpreted during shading. One method of combining textures is called Texture Splatting . SEE ALSO Several important topics in 2D and 3D graphics include:
Toolkits & APIs For an application relying heavily on computer graphics, the following could be useful:
Miscellaneous
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