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Glossary
ELSA ERAZOR II and ELSA VICTORY Erazor LT
31
Glossary
3D –
Three-dimensional
3D clipping –
Process in geometric trans-
formation in which invisible surfaces or parts of
a 3D object are removed.
3D pipeline –
Sum of all steps required for the
representation of virtual 3D scene on the moni-
tor. These include ➞tesselation, ➞geometri-
cal transformation and ➞rendering.
AGP –
stands for Accelerated Graphics Port
and is a further development by INTEL based on
the PCI bus. The AGP bus provides a greater
bandwidth for data transmission and communi-
cates directly with main memory. The bus is
primarily intended for 3D graphics boards.
Aliasing –
the familiar "staircase effect".
Jagged transitions are often formed between
adjacent pixels in the representation of diago-
nals or curves. These "jaggies" can be
smoothed out by anti-aliasing.
Alpha blending –
Additional information for
each pixel for creating transparent materials.
Back buffer –
is the name for the image
region built up in the background in the frame
buffer during ➞double buffering.
Back face culling –
Method used to calcu-
late the hidden faces of a 3D object.
BIOS –
Abbreviation of Basic Input/Output
System. A program code in the read-only mem-
ory (ROM) of a computer which performs the
self-test and several other functions during sys-
tem startup.
Bump mapping –
Process by which textures
are assigned depth information which allows
the display of relief or raised structures.
Bus system –
A system of parallel data lines
for the transfer of information between indi-
vidual system components, especially to
expansion boards (e.g. PCI bus).
Clipping –
parts of polygons invisible to the
representation are determined in clipping.
These parts are then not displayed.
D/A converter –
Digital/Analog converter: A
signal converter which converts a digital input
signal to an analog output signal.
DDC –
stands for Display Data Channel. A
special data channel through which a DDC-
capable monitor can send its technical data to
the graphics board.
Depth Complexity –
refers to the number of
objects that are in front of each other within a
scene. For example, a wall behind a group of
people, with yet another person in front of
them, results in a depth complexity of 3. This is
a typical value for 3D environments.
DirectColor –
Generic term for TrueColor,
RealColor and HighColor. The value that is
stored in the video RAM is not translated but
transferred directly to the D/A converter. This
means that the full color information must be
saved for each pixel.
Double buffering –
means that there are
two display buffers. This means that the next
image can be drawn in the page of the display
buffer, which is initially invisible. This image
will be displayed once it is ready and the next
image will be prepared in the other page of the
buffer. Animations and games can be made to
look more realistic with this technique than
with simple single buffer.