Introduction

Abstract

Ever since the invention of computers there has been an acute interest in using them for graphical applications. In the first computers, when cathode ray tubes were used to display messages, it was possible to manipulate patterns of characters and simulate simple games such as ‘noughts and crosses’. When vector graphic devices were invented, lines could be drawn on display screens and used to represent 2D plans and eventually perspective views of 3D objects. Computer graphics was eventually born from these humble beginnings, and today it has become a global industry, and so large that is difficult to estimate its true value. Computer games and animation are two important areas of computer graphics, and during the past fifty years software systems have been developed to model, animate, render 3D scenes and create life-like characters.