Terms and Definitions
3Dlabs Graphics Accelerator Card User's Guide
Terms and Definitions
AGP
Advanced Graphics Port. A dedicated graphics bus that transfers data at significantly higher speeds than
the PCI bus.
Alpha Blending
This means to create transparent objects by allowing for the blending of pixels to simulate the
transparency characteristics of an object. With alpha information, an object can be designed from being
totally transparent to opaque.
Alpha Buffer
A portion of the frame buffer used to define the transparency value of a pixel in the frame buffer. This
data can be used to blend the frame buffer pixel with the pixel to be drawn to create a composite pixel.
Antialiasing
A technique employed to remove any jagged edges from an object to appear smooth. This is
accomplished by gradually modifying the hue and saturation of pixels. (See also: SuperScene
Antialiasing)
API
Application Programming Interface. The API translates the instructions from the application program into
device commands that are specific to the screen’s display controller, the graphics board.
Atmospheric Effects
The effect derived from adding one or more layers around an object.
Bilinear Sampling
The process whereby texture mapping is done through filtering.
Bit Depth
Bit depth is another way of expressing the numbers of colors available. A color bit depth of 8 is
equivalent to 256 colors, a bit depth of 16 (15 bit of color plus a 1 bit overlay) yields 32768 colors, and a
bit depth of 32 (24 bit RGB plus 8 bit of overlays) equals 16.7 million colors. The latter is often referred
to as true color.
Clipping
Removal of elements or sections not contained within the active viewing area.
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The part within a PC that executes programs in main memory.
DAC
Digital to Analog Converter.
DDR SDRAM
Double Data Rrate SDRAM is synchronous dynamic RAM that improves memory clock speed.
Depth Cueing
A technique used to give the illusion of depth. With depth cueing, the part of an object that is farther away
is displayed with a lower intensity to give the effect of depth.
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