HP Workstation x2000 3Dlabs Wildcat III 6110 user's guide - Page 53
Digital Flat Panel Display
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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