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name). The technology takes advantage of available
hardware accelerators and emulates accelerator service
when accelerators are present.
Dithering
The process of mixing colors to create the effect of another
ones. This process is useful for 8-bit or even, in some cases,
16-bit color systems to extend the limited color palette. It is
possible to create the appearance of other colors that are not in
the palette by mixing different colored pixels in a semi-random
pattern. This technique can be used to make 256-color images
look like 64K-color images. The reverse is also true: dithering
can be used to render with only 256 colors some images which
were computed using 64K colors.
Double Buffering
This is the process of using two frame buffers for smooth
animation. While the image of the first buffer is being
displayed, the graphics controller can use the second buffer to
build or render the next image. Once the second image is
completed, the buffers are switched. Thus, the result is the
appearance of smooth animation because only complete
images are displayed, and the process of drawing is not
shown.
EDO RAM
Extended Data Out RAM. This type of memory is faster than
regular dynamic RAM because it has its own cache. While the
CPU is reading the data stored in this cache, the
memory can retrieve other information so that the CPU will not
be idly waiting for the memory to catch up.
Extrusion
Extrusion is the process of creating three-dimensional
geometry out of flat, two-dimensional shapes by drawing the 2-
D shape along a path in 3-D space. The extrusion path may be
a straight line or any kind of curve. If the path is linear, it may
be normal to, or at any other angle to the extruded shape.
Extrusion may be used to both build a 3-D object to begin with,
