Chapter 1
Introduction
The term computer graphics describes any use of computers to create and manipulate images. This book introduces the algorithmic and mathematical tools that can be used to create all kinds of images—realistic visual effects, informative technical illustrations, or beautiful computer animations. Graphics can be two- or three-dimensional; images can be completely synthetic or can be produced by manipulating photographs. This book is about the fundamental algorithms and mathematics, especially those used to produce synthetic images of three-dimensional objects and scenes.
Actually doing computer graphics inevitably requires knowing about specific hardware, file formats, and usually a graphics API (see Section 1.3) or two. Computer ...
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