Video game
A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a two- or three-dimensional video display device such as a TV screen, virtual reality headset or computer monitor. Since the 1980s, video games have become an important part of the entertainment industry, whether they are a form of art is a matter of dispute; the electronic systems used to play video games are called platforms. Video games are developed and released for one or several platforms and may not be available on others. Specialized platforms such as arcade games, which present the game in a large coin-operated chassis, were common in the 1980s in video arcades, but declined in popularity as other, more affordable platforms became available; these include dedicated devices such as video game consoles, as well as general-purpose computers like a laptop, desktop or handheld computing devices. The input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, mouse devices, the touchscreens of mobile devices, or a person's body, using a Kinect sensor.
Players view the game on a display device such as a television or computer monitor or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are game sound effects and voice actor lines which come from loudspeakers or headphones; some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the commercial importance of the video game industry is increasing; the emerging Asian markets and mobile games on smartphones in particular are driving the growth of the industry. As of 2015, video games generated sales of US$74 billion annually worldwide, were the third-largest segment in the U. S. entertainment market, behind broadcast and cable TV. Early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats; the earliest example is from 1947—a "Cathode ray tube Amusement Device" was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S.
Patent 2455992. Inspired by radar display technology, it consisted of an analog device that allowed a user to control a vector-drawn dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which were drawings fixed to the screen. Other early examples include: The Nimrod computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain; each game used different means of display: NIMROD used a panel of lights to play the game of Nim, OXO used a graphical display to play tic-tac-toe Tennis for Two used an oscilloscope to display a side view of a tennis court, Spacewar! used the DEC PDP-1's vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game, it used a black-and-white television for its display, the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green. Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the "Brown Box", it used a standard television.
These were followed by two versions of Atari's Pong. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, spawning the video game industry. A flood of Pong clones led to the video game crash of 1977, which came to an end with the mainstream success of Taito's 1978 shooter game Space Invaders, marking the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games and inspiring dozens of manufacturers to enter the market; the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts and convenience stores. The game became the subject of numerous articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines, establishing video gaming as a growing mainstream hobby. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first "killer app" and quadrupling the console's sales; this helped Atari recover from their earlier losses, in turn the Atari VCS revived the home video game market during the second generation of consoles, up until the North American video game crash of 1983.
The home video game industry was revitalized shortly afterwards by the widespread success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which marked a shift in the dominance of the video game industry from the United States to Japan during the third generation of consoles. A number of video game developers emerged in Britain in the early 1980s; the term "platform" refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term "system" is commonly used; the distinctions below are not always clear and there may be games that bridge one or more platforms. In addition to laptop/desktop computers and mobile devices, there are other devices which have the ability to play games but are not video game machines, such as PDAs and graphing calculators. In common use a "PC game" refers to a form of media that involves a player interacting with a personal computer conne
Vector graphics
Vector graphics are computer graphics images that are defined in terms of 2D points, which are connected by lines and curves to form polygons and other shapes. Each of these points has a definite position on the x- and y-axis of the work plane and determines the direction of the path. Vector graphics are found today in the SVG, EPS and PDF graphic file formats and are intrinsically different from the more common raster graphics file formats of JPEG, PNG, APNG, GIF, MPEG4. One of the first uses of vector graphic displays was the US SAGE air defense system. Vector graphics systems were retired from the U. S. en route air traffic control in 1999, are still in use in military and specialized systems. Vector graphics were used on the TX-2 at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory by computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland to run his program Sketchpad in 1963. Subsequent vector graphics systems, most of which iterated through dynamically modifiable stored lists of drawing instructions, include the IBM 2250, Imlac PDS-1, DEC GT40.
There was a home gaming system that used vector graphics called Vectrex as well as various arcade games like Asteroids, Space Wars and many cinematronics titles such as Rip-Off, Tail Gunner using vector monitors. Storage scope displays, such as the Tektronix 4014, could display vector images but not modify them without first erasing the display. In computer typography, modern outline fonts describe printable characters by cubic or quadratic mathematical curves with control points. Bitmap fonts are still in use. Converting outlines requires filling them in. Processing outline character data in a sophisticated fashion to create satisfactory bitmaps for rendering is called "hinting". Although the term implies suggestion, the process is deterministic and done by executable code a special-purpose computer language. While automatic hinting is possible, results can be inferior to that done by experts. Modern vector graphics displays can sometimes be found at laser light shows, where two fast-moving X-Y mirrors position the beam to draw shapes and text as straight and curved strokes on a screen.
Vector graphics can be created in a form using a pen plotter, a special type of printer that uses a series of ballpoint and felt-tip pens on a servo-driven mount that moves horizontally across the paper, with the plotter moving the paper back and forth through its paper path for vertical movement. Although a typical plot might require a few thousand paper motions and forth, the paper doesn't slip. In a tiny roll-fed plotter made by Alps in Japan, teeth on thin sprockets indented the paper near its edges on the first pass and maintained registration on subsequent passes; some Hewlett-Packard pen plotters had stationery paper. However, the moving-paper H-P plotters had grit wheels which, on the first pass, indented the paper surface, collectively maintained registration. Present-day vector graphic files such as engineering drawings are printed as bitmaps, after vector-to-raster conversion; the term "vector graphics" is used today in the context of two-dimensional computer graphics. It is one of several modes.
Vector graphics can be uploaded to online databases for other designers to download and manipulate, speeding up the creative process. Other modes include text, 3D rendering. All modern 3D rendering is done using extensions of 2D vector graphics techniques. Plotters used in technical drawing still draw vectors directly to paper; the World Wide Web Consortium standard for vector graphics is Scalable Vector Graphics. The standard is complex and has been slow to be established at least in part owing to commercial interests. Many web browsers now have some support for rendering SVG data but full implementations of the standard are still comparatively rare. In recent years, SVG has become a significant format, independent of the resolution of the rendering device a printer or display monitor. SVG files are printable text that describes both straight and curved paths, as well as other attributes. Wikipedia prefers SVG for images such as simple maps, line illustrations, coats of arms, flags, which are not like photographs or other continuous-tone images.
Rendering SVG requires conversion to raster format at a resolution appropriate for the current task. SVG is a format for animated graphics. There is a version of SVG for mobile phones. In particular, the specific format for mobile phones is called SVGT; these images can count links and exploit anti-aliasing. They can be displayed as wallpaper; the list of image file formats covers public vector formats. Modern displays and printers are raster devices; the size of the bitmap/raster-format file generated by the conversion will depend on the resolution required, but the size of the vector file generating the bitmap/raster file will always remain the same. Thus, it is easy to convert from a vector file to a range of bitmap/raster file formats but it is much more difficult to go in the opposite direction if subsequent editing of the vector picture is required, it might be an advantage to save an image created
Sphere
A sphere is a round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, the surface of a round ball. Like a circle in a two-dimensional space, a sphere is defined mathematically as the set of points that are all at the same distance r from a given point, but in a three-dimensional space; this distance r is the radius of the ball, made up from all points with a distance less than r from the given point, the center of the mathematical ball. These are referred to as the radius and center of the sphere, respectively; the longest straight line segment through the ball, connecting two points of the sphere, passes through the center and its length is thus twice the radius. While outside mathematics the terms "sphere" and "ball" are sometimes used interchangeably, in mathematics the above distinction is made between a sphere, a two-dimensional closed surface, embedded in a three-dimensional Euclidean space, a ball, a three-dimensional shape that includes the sphere and everything inside the sphere, or, more just the points inside, but not on the sphere.
The distinction between ball and sphere has not always been maintained and older mathematical references talk about a sphere as a solid. This is analogous to the situation in the plane, where the terms "circle" and "disk" can be confounded. In analytic geometry, a sphere with center and radius r is the locus of all points such that 2 + 2 + 2 = r 2. Let a, b, c, d, e be real numbers with a ≠ 0 and put x 0 = − b a, y 0 = − c a, z 0 = − d a, ρ = b 2 + c 2 + d 2 − a e a 2; the equation f = a + 2 + e = 0 has no real points as solutions if ρ < 0 and is called the equation of an imaginary sphere. If ρ = 0 the only solution of f = 0 is the point P 0 = and the equation is said to be the equation of a point sphere. In the case ρ > 0, f = 0 is an equation of a sphere whose center is P 0 and whose radius is ρ. If a in the above equation is zero f = 0 is the equation of a plane. Thus, a plane may be thought of as a sphere of infinite radius; the points on the sphere with radius r > 0 and center can be parameterized via x = x 0 + r sin θ cos φ y = y 0 + r sin θ sin φ z = z 0 + r cos θ The parameter θ {
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of software to control machine tools and related ones in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, its primary purpose is to create a faster production process and components and tooling with more precise dimensions and material consistency, which in some cases, uses only the required amount of raw material, while reducing energy consumption. CAM is now a system used in lower educational purposes. CAM is a subsequent computer-aided process after computer-aided design and sometimes computer-aided engineering, as the model generated in CAD and verified in CAE can be input into CAM software, which controls the machine tool. CAM is used in many schools alongside Computer-Aided Design to create objects. Traditionally, CAM has been considered as a numerical control programming tool, where in two-dimensional or three-dimensional models of components generated in CAD; as with other “Computer-Aided” technologies, CAM does not eliminate the need for skilled professionals such as manufacturing engineers, NC programmers, or machinists.
CAM, in fact, leverages both the value of the most skilled manufacturing professionals through advanced productivity tools, while building the skills of new professionals through visualization and optimization tools. Early commercial applications of CAM was in large companies in the automotive and aerospace industries, for example Pierre Béziers work developing the CAD/CAM application UNISURF in the 1960s for car body design and tooling at Renault. CAM software was seen to have several shortcomings that necessitated an overly high level of involvement by skilled CNC machinists. Fallows created the first CAD software but this had severe shortcomings and was promptly taken back into the developing stage. CAM software would output code for the least capable machine, as each machine tool control added on to the standard G-code set for increased flexibility. In some cases, such as improperly set up CAM software or specific tools, the CNC machine required manual editing before the program will run properly.
None of these issues were so insurmountable that a thoughtful engineer or skilled machine operator could not overcome for prototyping or small production runs. In high production or high precision shops, a different set of problems were encountered where an experienced CNC machinist must both hand-code programs and run CAM software. Integration of CAD with other components of CAD/CAM/CAE Product lifecycle management environment requires an effective CAD data exchange, it had been necessary to force the CAD operator to export the data in one of the common data formats, such as IGES or STL or Parasolid formats that are supported by a wide variety of software. The output from the CAM software is a simple text file of G-code/M-codes, sometimes many thousands of commands long, transferred to a machine tool using a direct numerical control program or in modern Controllers using a common USB Storage Device. CAM packages could not, still cannot, reason as a machinist can, they could not optimize toolpaths to the extent required of mass production.
Users would select the type of machining process and paths to be used. While an engineer may have a working knowledge of G-code programming, small optimization and wear issues compound over time. Mass-produced items that require machining are initially created through casting or some other non-machine method; this enables hand-written and optimized G-code that could not be produced in a CAM package. At least in the United States, there is a shortage of young, skilled machinists entering the workforce able to perform at the extremes of manufacturing; as CAM software and machines become more complicated, the skills required of a machinist or machine operator advance to approach that of a computer programmer and engineer rather than eliminating the CNC machinist from the workforce. Typical areas of concern: High Speed Machining, including streamlining of tool paths Multi-function Machining 5 Axis Machining Feature recognition and machining Automation of Machining processes Ease of Use Over time, the historical shortcomings of CAM are being attenuated, both by providers of niche solutions and by providers of high-end solutions.
This is occurring in three arenas: Ease of usage Manufacturing complexity Integration with PLM and the extended enterpriseEase in useFor the user, just getting started as a CAM user, out-of-the-box capabilities providing Process Wizards, libraries, machine tool kits, automated feature based machining and job function specific tailorable user interfaces build user confidence and speed the learning curve. User confidence is further built on 3D visualization through a closer integration with the 3D CAD environment, including error-avoiding simulations and optimizations. Manufacturing complexity The manufacturing environment is complex; the need for CAM and PLM tools by the manufacturing engineer, NC programmer or machinist is similar to the need for computer assistance by the pilot of modern aircraft systems. The modern machinery cannot be properly used without this assistance. Today's CAM systems support the full range of machine tools including: turning, 5 axis machining, laser / plasma cutting, wire EDM.
Today’s CAM user can generate streamlined tool paths, optimized tool axis tilt for higher feed rates, better tool life and surface finish, an
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animated images. The more general term computer-generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to the moving images. Modern computer animation uses 3D computer graphics, although 2D computer graphics are still used for stylistic, low bandwidth, faster real-time renderings. Sometimes, the target of the animation sometimes film as well. Computer animation is a digital successor to the stop motion techniques using 3D models, traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations. Computer-generated animations are more controllable than other more physically based processes, constructing miniatures for effects shots or hiring extras for crowd scenes, because it allows the creation of images that would not be feasible using any other technology, it can allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or props.
To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer monitor and replaced by a new image, similar to it, but advanced in time. This technique is identical to how the illusion of movement is achieved with television and motion pictures. For 3D animations, objects are built on the computer monitor and 3D figures are rigged with a virtual skeleton. For 2D figure animations, separate objects and separate transparent layers are used with or without that virtual skeleton; the limbs, mouth, etc. of the figure are moved by the animator on key frames. The differences in appearance between key frames are automatically calculated by the computer in a process known as tweening or morphing; the animation is rendered. For 3D animations, all frames must be rendered. For 2D vector animations, the rendering process is the key frame illustration process, while tweened frames are rendered as needed. For pre-recorded presentations, the rendered frames are transferred to a different format or medium, like digital video.
The frames may be rendered in real time as they are presented to the end-user audience. Low bandwidth animations transmitted via the internet use software on the end-users computer to render in real time as an alternative to streaming or pre-loaded high bandwidth animations. To trick the eye and the brain into thinking they are seeing a smoothly moving object, the pictures should be drawn at around 12 frames per second or faster. With rates above 75-120 frames per second, no improvement in realism or smoothness is perceivable due to the way the eye and the brain both process images. At rates below 12 frames per second, most people can detect jerkiness associated with the drawing of new images that detracts from the illusion of realistic movement. Conventional hand-drawn cartoon animation uses 15 frames per second in order to save on the number of drawings needed, but this is accepted because of the stylized nature of cartoons. To produce more realistic imagery, computer animation demands higher frame rates.
Films seen in theaters in the United States run at 24 frames per second, sufficient to create the illusion of continuous movement. For high resolution, adapters are used. Early digital computer animation was developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1960s by Edward E. Zajac, Frank W. Sinden, Kenneth C. Knowlton, A. Michael Noll. Other digital animation was practiced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 1967, a computer animation named "Hummingbird" was created by James Shaffer. In 1968, a computer animation called "Kitty" was created with BESM-4 by Nikolai Konstantinov, depicting a cat moving around. In 1971, a computer animation called "Metadata" was created. An early step in the history of computer animation was the sequel to the 1973 film Westworld, a science-fiction film about a society in which robots live and work among humans; the sequel, used the 3D wire-frame imagery, which featured a computer-animated hand and face both created by University of Utah graduates Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke.
This imagery appeared in their student film A Computer Animated Hand, which they completed in 1972. Developments in CGI technologies are reported each year at SIGGRAPH, an annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, attended by thousands of computer professionals each year. Developers of computer games and 3D video cards strive to achieve the same visual quality on personal computers in real-time as is possible for CGI films and animation. With the rapid advancement of real-time rendering quality, artists began to use game engines to render non-interactive movies, which led to the art form Machinima; the first full length computer animated television series was ReBoot, which debuted in September 1994. The first feature-length computer animated film was Toy Story, made by Pixar, it followed an adventure centered around their owners. This groundbreaking film was the first of many computer-animated movies. In most 3D computer animation systems, an animator creates a simplified representation of a character's anatomy, analogous to a skeleton or stick figure.
They are by default arranged into a default position known. The position of each segment of the skeletal model is defined by animation variables, or Avars for short. In human and animal characters, many parts of the skeletal mo
3D modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any surface of an object in three dimensions via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model. Someone who works with 3D models may be referred to as a 3D artist, it can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena. The model can be physically created using 3D printing devices. Models may be created manually; the manual modeling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics is similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. 3D modeling software is a class of 3D computer graphics. Individual programs of this class are called modeling modelers. Three-dimensional models represent a physical body using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, curved surfaces, etc. Being a collection of data, 3D models scanned, their surfaces may be further defined with texture mapping.
3D models are used anywhere in 3D graphics and CAD. Their use predates the widespread use of 3D graphics on personal computers. Many computer games used pre-rendered images of 3D models as sprites before computers could render them in real-time; the designer can see the model in various directions and views, this can help the designer see if the object is created as intended to compared to their original vision. Seeing the design this way can help the designer/company figure out changes or improvements needed to the product. Today, 3D models are used in a wide variety of fields; the medical industry uses detailed models of organs. The movie industry uses them as objects for animated and real-life motion pictures; the video game industry uses them as assets for video games. The science sector uses them as detailed models of chemical compounds; the architecture industry uses them to demonstrate proposed buildings and landscapes in lieu of traditional, physical architectural models. The engineering community uses them as designs of new devices and structures as well as a host of other uses.
In recent decades the earth science community has started to construct 3D geological models as a standard practice. 3D models can be the basis for physical devices that are built with 3D printers or CNC machines. All 3D models can be divided into two categories. Solid – These models define the volume of the object they represent. Solid models are used for engineering and medical simulations, are built with constructive solid geometry Shell/boundary – these models represent the surface, e.g. the boundary of the object, not its volume. All visual models used in games and film are shell models. Solid and shell modeling can create functionally identical objects. Differences between them are variations in the way they are created and edited and conventions of use in various fields and differences in types of approximations between the model and reality. Shell models must be manifold to be meaningful as a real object. Polygonal meshes are by far the most common representation. Level sets are a useful representation for deforming surfaces which undergo many topological changes such as fluids.
The process of transforming representations of objects, such as the middle point coordinate of a sphere and a point on its circumference into a polygon representation of a sphere, is called tessellation. This step is used in polygon-based rendering, where objects are broken down from abstract representations such as spheres, cones etc. to so-called meshes, which are nets of interconnected triangles. Meshes of triangles are popular. Polygon representations are not used in all rendering techniques, in these cases the tessellation step is not included in the transition from abstract representation to rendered scene. There are three popular ways to represent a model: Polygonal modeling – Points in 3D space, called vertices, are connected by line segments to form a polygon mesh; the vast majority of 3D models today are built as textured polygonal models, because they are flexible and because computers can render them so quickly. However, polygons can only approximate curved surfaces using many polygons.
Curve modeling – Surfaces are defined by curves, which are influenced by weighted control points. The curve follows the points. Increasing the weight for a point will pull the curve closer to that point. Curve types include nonuniform rational B-spline, splines and geometric primitives Digital sculpting – Still a new method of modeling, 3D sculpting has become popular in the few years it has been around. There are three types of digital sculpting: Displacement, the most used among applications at this moment, uses a dense model and stores new locations for the vertex positions through use of an image map that stores the adjusted locations. Volumetric, loosely based on voxels, has similar capabilities as displacement but does not suffer from polygon stretching when there are not enough polygons in a region to achieve a deformation. Dynamic te
