Nowadays watching a movie or playing a quality video game can feel like moving  into a new world. Its all because of special effects and 3D animations.

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data which is stored in a computer for the purposes of performing computations and rendering 2D images.

In movies, we see a window into a 3 dimensional world that gives us more nice effects & quality. 3D pictures makes it look like the real thing.

Basics of Computer Graphics

There are two kinds of computer graphics - raster (made up of pixels) and vector (made up of paths). Raster images are more commonly called as bitmap images.

Bitmaps are composed of pixels.

The jagged appearance of bitmap images can be partially overcome with the use of "anti-aliasing". Anti-aliasing is used to minimize the jagged effect.

As you can see below Aliased {Jagged effect} and Anti Aliased image {Without Jagged effect}.

What exactly is the difference between a 2d picture and a 3d picture?

A picture that has or appears to have height, width and depth is three-dimensional (or 3-D picture). On the other hand, a picture that has height and width but no depth is two-dimensional (or 2-D picture).

Basic Computer Graphics Terms

Anti-aliasing
Anti-aliasing is a technique that makes edges appear to have better resolution ( without jagged effect) (as you can see in the image above).

Bitmap
A Bitmap is a pixel by pixel image

Blending
Blending is the combining of two or more objects by adding them on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

Depth Cueing
Technique of lowering intensity as objects move away from the viewpoint.

Hidden Surface Removal
Displaying only those surfaces that are visible to a viewer because objects are a collection of surfaces or solids.

Interpolation
Interpolation is a mathematical way of regenerating missing or required information.

Rasterization
convert (an image) into pixels .

Rendering
The process of generating real images on a screen using mathematical models and formulas to add shading, color to a 2D or 3D wireframe.

Z buffering

In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional (3-D) graphics.

3D Chess Game