ELSA Synergy II, Руководство пользователя

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All about graphics
ELSA SYNERGY II
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All about graphics
This is the chapter where we really get stuck in. Anyone who wants to know more about
graphics—especially in connection with the
ELSA SYNERGY II —will finde a whole load
of technical stuff right here.
3D graphics representation
Today it is considered de rigeur to know all about 3D. Your curiosity will be aroused as
soon as you experience the first visual wizardry generated by your new graphics board.
Two features of the 3D display will leap out at you: it's both realistic and fast. The
amount of work required here is known only to the processor, but we will describe it in
detail to you below.
The 3D pipeline
What actually happens when a monitor displays a 3D object? The data describing the 3D
object are passed through what is known as the 3D pipeline, in which the mathematical
calculations for its representation in space and perspective on the monitor are carried
out. What happens in detail?
Start: The object data
The pipeline starts at the object. The object description is made up of the data (points).
Tesselation
In the first step, the object is broken down into a number of polygons or triangles. The
vertices of the triangles are described by coordinate points (x, y and z) with the 'z' value
containing the depth information. Depending on the representation, these vertices also
contain information concerning the material and texture. The volume of data to be pro-
cessed increases enormously because of this conversion of the image information.
Geometrical transformation
This part of the 3D pipeline is very processor-intensive, as all the calculations for the 3D
scene are carried out at this stage. Simplified, it comprises of the following steps:
Object data Tesselation
Geometrical
transformation
Rendering
Display
on the
monitor