Computer graphics, 2d

The first advance in computer graphics was in the use of CRTs. See 2D computer graphics. There are two approaches to 2D graphics: vector and raster graphics. Vector graphics stores precise geometric data, topology and style such as coordinate positions of points, the connections between points (to form lines or paths) and the colour, thickness and possible fill of the shapes. Most vector graphic systems can also use primitives of standard shapes such as circles and rectangles etc. In most cases(99,999%) a vector graphic image has to be converted to a raster image to be viewed. Raster graphics is a uniform two dimensional grid of pixels. Each pixel has a specific value such as for instance brightness, colour transparancy 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 resolutions such as 1280(columns)x1024(rows) of pixels. Today one often combines raster and vector graphics in compound file formats (pdf,swf).

Computer graphics, 3d

With the birth of the workstation computers (like LISP machines, paintbox computers and Silicon Graphics workstations) came the 3D computer graphics, based on vector or "wire-frame" representations of virtual objects.

Some major advances in 3D computer graphics since then have been:

Flat shading: A technique that shades each polygon of an object based on the polygon's "normal" and the position and intensity of a light source.
Gouraud shading: Invented by Henri Gouraud in 1971, a fast and resource-conscious technique used to simulate smoothly shaded surfaces by interpolating vertex colors across a polygon's surface.
Texture mapping: A technique for simulating surface detail by mapping images (textures) onto polygons.
Phong shading: Invented by Bui Tuong Phong, a smooth shading technique that approximates curved-surface lighting by interpolating the vertex normals of a polygon across the surface; the lighting model includes glossy reflection with a controlable level of gloss.
Bump mapping: Invented by Jim Blinn, a normal-perturbation technique used to simulate bumpy or wrinkled surfaces.
Ray Tracing: A method based on the physical principles of geometric optics that can simulate multiple reflections and transparency.
Radiosity: a technique for global illumination that uses radiative transfer theory to simulate indirect (reflected) illumination in scenes with diffuse surfaces.
Blobs: a technique for representing surfaces without specifing a hard boundary_representation, usually implemented as a procedural_surface like a Van-der-Vaals equipotential (in chemistry).

Computer graphics, 2d

Computer graphics, 3d

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