Introduction

Abstract

Computer graphics today is a field surrounded by an aura of perfection. Sophisticated tools have been developed for constructing data structures within a computer which describe the geometry of objects in a precise way. The resultant models form the input to Tenderers, which produce visualizations of the objects. These visualizations are, in turn, generally intended to mimic the task of a camera. Thus it is possible to generate images synthetically which resemble photographs of real scenes with such exactness that only a trained eye can tell the images apart. Even very complex scenes can be generated convincingly (Figure 1.1).