In 3D computer graphics, hidden surface determination (also known as hidden surface removal (HSR), occlusion culling (OC) or visible surface determination (VSD)) is the process used to determine which surfaces and parts of surfaces are not visible from a certain viewpoint. A hidden surface determination algorithm is a solution to the visibility problem, which was one of the first major problems in the field of 3D computer graphics. The process of hidden surface determination is sometimes called hiding, and such an algorithm is sometimes called a hider. The analogue for line rendering is hidden line removal. Hidden surface determination is necessary to render an image correctly, so that one cannot look through walls in virtual reality.
Read more about Hidden Surface Determination: Background, Hidden Surface Removal Algorithms, Culling and VSD, Divide and Conquer
Famous quotes containing the words hidden and/or surface:
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Married to immortal verse,
Such as the meeting soul may pierce
In notes with many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out,
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony;”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“We say justly that the weak person is flat, for, like all flat substances, he does not stand in the direction of his strength, that is, on his edge, but affords a convenient surface to put upon. He slides all the way through life.... But the brave man is a perfect sphere, which cannot fall on its flat side and is equally strong every way.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)