Game Design Foundations (Wordware Game and Graphics Library)

BSP (Binary Space Partition): In drawing 3D scenes, a tree structure is created and accessed where the objects are stationary and the player’s view direction changes.

LOD (Level of Detail): The number of needed polygons based on that object’s distance from the camera. The closer the object is to the camera, the more polygons it needs to look real. As it moves away from the camera, its details are less desired (removing the extra polygons speeds up the rendering process).

Texture: A 2D image that can be mapped onto a 3D image or polygon

MipMap: “Miltum in Parvo” or many things in a small place is Direct3D’s method of aliasing by limiting the ratio of pixel size to texel size (texture coordinate).

Bump Map: The process of using white and black to make a surface look bumpy. White or light will make a surface look tall or raised, while black or dark will make the surface look flat (no bumps).

Mesh: A mesh or wireframe is a polygonal skeleton, a line-based and nonshaded, nontextured object displayed with linear edges and subdivisions.

PVS (Potentially Visible Set): Precalculated set of visible cells in the process called Precalculated Portal Rendering where each cell has data called PVS