3Dlabs Workstation x1000, User Manual

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TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
Digital Flat Panel Display
A digital, flat-panel display uses a digital (instead of analog) cable connection to transfer data to the
display screen. This can eliminate some display artifacts. Flat panel displays occupy less desk space than
conventional monitors.
DirectX
Microsoft’s APIs developed to access various system hardware.
Direct 3D
Microsoft’s API dedicated to 3D graphics, and a component of DirectX.
Dithering
The process of converting an image with a certain bit depth to one with a lower bit depth. Dithering
enables the application to convert an image’s colors that it cannot display into two or more colors that
closely resemble the original. Dithering works because the mind is tricked by the pattern of colors into
thinking it’s a different color.
Double Buffering
With double buffering, images are rendered in the back buffer and then displayed on the screen once the
drawing is completed. This results in the smooth, flicker-free rotation and animation of 3D models and
scenes.
Driver
A driver is a special interface program that is developed to perform the communication between the
application program, the device (i.e., graphics peripheral) and the operating system.
EVGA
Extended Video Graphics Array. EVGA runs at 1024 x 768.
Flat Shading
The simplest method of shading. Each triangle is assigned one single color, resulting in a faceted
appearance of the surface.
Frame Buffer
A 24-bit, true-color frame buffer provides 8 bits for each red, green and blue primary display color. This
results in 16.8 million color combinations. A second, or double, buffer enables system to calculate pixels
one step ahead of the screen display for smooth, distortion free images.
Gamma
A curve representing both the contrast and brightness of an image. Changing the shape of the curve
changes the RGB color output. (Not to be confused with GLINT Gamma, the 3Dlabs geometry
processing device.)
Geometry
The intermediate stage of the 3D pipeline, geometry determines the location of the object and the frame of
reference of the viewer in relation to the object.
Gouraud Shading
This method of shading, more complex than flat shading, shows subtle color changes across an object.
Gouraud Shading is accomplished by adding pixels in a graduated scale of colors.
Graphics Accelerator Card
A graphics accelerator performs 3D functions in the hardware, thereby relieving the CPU of repetitive,
complex and intensive calls. This results in enhanced performance and speed.
3Dlabs Graphics Accelerator Card User's Guide 49