ATI 9550 User Guide - Page 23

Buffers, offscreen, back buffers, CHARISMA, ENGINE, Color Depth, Frame Buffer, Gouraud Shading

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Buffers CHARISMA ENGINE™ II Color Depth Fog Frame Buffer Gouraud Shading HYPER Z™ II MIP Map Offscreen Memory Your ATI accelerator card includes on-board memory which is used in a number of ways. Buffers are portions of this memory used as temporary storage on your card. One large buffer is always used to display the screen you see; this is the "display buffer". The rest of offscreen memory is used by applications as back buffers, z-buffers, and texture buffers. Supports transforms, clipping and lighting at 62.5 million triangles per second at peak processing capability. Color depth is the number of color shades available on your display. The color depth of your monitor usually includes; 256 colors (8-bpp), Thousands of colors (16-bpp), and Millions of colors (32-bpp), and is also measured in bits per pixel (bpp). You can switch your color depth using the ATI Popup Menu, Apple's Control Strip, or the Monitors control panel. Higher bit-depths require more display buffer memory. Note: The ATI 3D Accelerator only functions in Thousands and Millions of colors modes. The blending of an object with a fixed color as objects or pixels increase distance away from the viewer. Memory buffer used to store the image being displayed. One of the more sophisticated shading methods used to produce a smooth lighting effect across a 3D object. A specific color is used at each vertice of a triangle or polygon, and interpolated across the entire face. A memory bandwidth saving technology that boosts rendering performance. Multum In Parvum (Latin) means "many in one." It is a method of increasing quality of a texture map by storing multiple resolutions of the same image and dynamically switching between them depending on the size and depth of the object being textured. An area of memory used to preload and place images so that they can be quickly drawn on the screen. Offscreen memory refers to all the memory on your ATI accelerator card that is not taken up by the front buffer, which holds the display screen that you see. 20

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20
Buffers
Your ATI accelerator card includes on-board memory
which is used in a number of ways. Buffers are portions
of this memory used as temporary storage on your card.
One large buffer is always used to display the screen you
see; this is the “display buffer”. The rest of
offscreen
memory is used by applications as
back buffers
,
z-buffers
, and texture buffers.
CHARISMA
ENGINE
™
II
Supports transforms, clipping and lighting at 62.5
million triangles per second at peak processing
capability.
Color Depth
Color depth is the number of color shades available on
your display. The color depth of your monitor usually
includes; 256 colors (8-bpp), Thousands of colors
(16-bpp), and Millions of colors (32-bpp), and is also
measured in bits per pixel (bpp). You can switch your
color depth using the ATI Popup Menu, Apple’s Control
Strip, or the Monitors control panel. Higher bit-depths
require more display buffer memory.
Note:
The ATI 3D Accelerator only functions in
Thousands and Millions of colors modes.
Fog
The blending of an object with a fixed color as objects
or pixels increase distance away from the viewer.
Frame Buffer
Memory buffer used to store the image being displayed.
Gouraud Shading
One of the more sophisticated shading methods used to
produce a smooth lighting effect across a 3D object. A
specific color is used at each vertice of a triangle or
polygon, and interpolated across the entire face.
HYPER Z
™
II
A memory bandwidth saving technology that boosts
rendering performance.
MIP Map
Multum In Parvum (Latin) means “many in one.” It is a
method of increasing quality of a texture map by storing
multiple resolutions of the same image and dynamically
switching between them depending on the size and
depth of the object being textured.
Offscreen Memory
An area of memory used to preload and place images so
that they can be quickly drawn on the screen. Offscreen
memory refers to all the memory on your ATI
accelerator card that is not taken up by the front buffer,
which holds the display screen that you see.