Computer graphics (computer science)

Computer graphics is the field of synthesising or augmenting imagery through digital means, for artistic, engineering, recreational or scientific purposes.

The first computer graphics were the output of text and numbers on electronic displays, though computer graphics today typically refers to creating images and not text. This field can be divided into two general areas: real-time rendering, and non real-time rendering. Development in computer graphics was first fueled by academic interests and government sponsorship. However, as real-world applications of computer graphics(CG) in broadcast television and movies proved a viable alternative to more traditional special effects and animation techniques, commercial parties have increasingly funded advances in the field.

The first feature film to use computer graphics was Futureworld (1976) which included an animation of a human face and hand - produced by Ed Catmull and Fred Parke at the University of Utah.

Some major advances in computer graphics 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 H. Gouraud in 1971, a fast and resource-conscious vertex shading technique used to simulate smoothly shaded surfaces.
Phong Shading: Invented by Wu Tong Phong, used to simulate specular highlights adn smooth shaded surfaces.
Bump Mapping: Invented by Jim Blinn, a normal-perturbation technique used to simulate wrinkled surfaces.
Ray Tracing: A shading technique used to simulate reflection and transparency.
Global Illumination: Covering the techniques of Monte-Carlo gathering and radiosity for simulating realistic light sources.

Several important topics in 2D and 3D graphics include:

Toolkits and APIs

If you want to build an application that relies heavily on computer graphics you might find the following useful: