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Text File | 1992-02-11 | 3.9 KB | 98 lines | [TEXT/ttxt] |
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- GLOSSARY OF TERMS
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- ANTI-ALIASING: A technique or system to reduce or eliminate "jaggies". The
- jagged visual effect caused by the pixels in diagonal lines of low-resolution
- displays.
-
- ANIMATION: Incremental sequence of still images that, when shown in rapid
- succession, simulates movement.
-
- BUFFER: An area of memory in which information is stored while the computer is on.
-
- CONFIGURATION: The arrangement of various computer options and settings,
- including the tools, colors and current drive path.
-
- CROSSHAIRS: Two lines, one vertical and the other horizontal, used to
- accurately specify a point on the screen.
-
- DEFAULT: The minimum settings necessary for the computer software to operate.
-
- DIRECTORY: The disk tree structure that holds groups of image files.
-
- FILE: Informational data, textual or graphic, that is given a name and stored
- on disk. MS-DOS file names can have up to eight letters or numbers and may
- optionally include a three-character extension following a period, such as
- BLOCK-2A.TGA.
-
- FONT: A collection of letters and numbers in one style and point (height)
- size.
-
- FOLDER: The equivalent of a directory (used by the Apple systems).
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- FRAME: One full on-screen image of displayed information.
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- FRAME BUFFER: A separate area of memory where an image or frame is stored.
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- GAMMA: A process that improves the video image by correcting for the lack of picture clarity.
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- GENLOCK: The synchronization of the computers image capture board with an
- external video source.
-
- IMAGE: A two-dimensional array of pixels representing a three-dimensional
- scene.
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- IMAGE ASPECT RATIO: The ratio of width to the height of a displayed image.
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- JAGGIES: The undesirable "stairstepping" (aliasing) effect of diagonal edges
- in an image.
-
- MENU: A screen display containing a list of selectable items.
-
- NTSC:National Television Standards Committee that sets the analog video signal standard used by the broadcast television industry in the U.S.
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- PALETTE: A group of colors used for specific painting.
-
- PATH: The specific order of branches of the tree taken by the computer to
- retrieve the image files.
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- PIXEL: Picture element. The smallest unit of information on screen.
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- RGB: An abbreviation for video primaries red, green and blue.
-
- RAM: Random Access Memory. This memory is available for data storage only while the computer is turned on.
-
- RASTER IMAGE: The representation of an image by colors as a 2D grid of
- pixels.
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- RAY TRACING: A technique to generate an image from a geometric model of an object. For each pixel in an image, a theoretical ray is cast from the
- observer's viewpoint into the model, to determine what part of the model
- should be displayed at that point in the resulting image.
-
- REAL TIME: Continuous motion of the computer system with no noticeable
- movement between images. Television broadcasts in the US are recorded at
- 30 frames per second and our eye perceives no delay, if computers can keep
- up with this motion it is said to be "in real time".
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- RENDERING: Generating an image on screen that is a precise scene.
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- RESOLUTION: The fineness or coarseness of the screen image designated by the number of pixels vertically and horizontally, i.e. 512 x 480.
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- ROOT DIRECTORY: The "trunk" directory of the tree which contains the
- subdirectories and files.
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- SCALE: The enlargement or reduction of an object or texture.
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- TEXTURE MAPS: A section of a 2D raster image of texture that is "mapped" onto a 2D or 3D surface, automatically by the computer.
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- VECTOR GRAPHICS: Images are represented as points in space with line segments between.
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- WARPING: Mapping the texture onto the object in perspective.
-
- WINDOW: A boxed area smaller than the screen in which images appear.
-
- WIREFRAME: A three-dimensional image represented with single lines.
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- Copyright ⌐ 1990, IMAGETECTS¬, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.