Graphics Pipeline and Rendering Concepts

A collection of flashcards covering key concepts and definitions related to graphics rendering and pipeline processes.

Bezier curves

Curves that do not interpolate all of their control points.

Blending functions

Provide a convenient basis for expressing curves in terms of the control points.

Cubic Bezier curve

A curve that has 4 control points.

Rasterization

Occurs after vertex transformation in the graphics pipeline.

Clipping

It is performed before perspective division in the graphics pipeline.

3D rendering pipeline

Primarily designed to support rasterization, not ray tracing.

Perspective transformation

It is not linear in z.

Viewport transformation

Maps from normalized device coordinates to screen space.

Antialiasing through pixel supersampling

Introduces significant computational overhead to ray tracing.

Mipmapping textures

Reduces minification artifacts.

Midpoint algorithm for rasterizing lines

Converts a line to a set of pixel fragments and can be optimized to incrementally compute the line equation.

z-buffer

Used to select which fragment to draw based on fragment depth.

Barycentric coordinates

Used to determine the position relative to a triangle.

Texture mapping

• Texture mapping can add realism without increasing polygon count

• Textures can be used to vary the normal over the surface of an object

• Textures typically do not change object silhouettes

• Textures can appear distorted if perspective correct interpolation is not employed

• Textures may be 2D images or 3d solid textures

Texture coordinates

Can be interpolated from the vertices inside a triangle.

3D rendering pipeline order

Consists of modelview transformation, projection transformation, divide-by-w, and viewport transform.

Curve Polynomial interpolation

Unique n-degree polynomial interpolates n + 1 distinct data points.

Rotation matrix

Describes 2D space rotation with a single parameter and its inverse is its transpose.