Glossary » Computer Graphics

transition effects

visual effects that animate the transition from one visual display to another, used especially in presentations and video. Effects include fade in and out, pan (left, right, up, and down), zoom in and out, checkerboard patterns, and wipes. Transition effects…

vector display

a technology used for computer monitors that moved the electron beam in a CRT directly along the paths between specified points on the display, creating very sharp, smooth lines and requiring very little memory to refresh the display. Vector displays…

visual programming language

a programming language whose interface is graphical, as opposed to the most common textual languages (such as C, Lisp, Java, etc). The idea is to improve the comprehensibility of the code by choosing an optimal notation, not one which is…

voxel

a volume-element; a 3D equivalent to a pixel (picture-element). 3-dimensional scenes can be constructed by setting the properties of individual voxel, such as color or texture.

VR

virtual reality; the modeling of 3-dimensional worlds that can be moved in and explored; a 3D interface whose metaphor is an actual world that people inhabit instead of just looking into it, used, for instance, for games and interpersonal communication.…

VRML

Virtual Reality Markup Language; a simple notation for describing 3-dimensional spaces and links between different sites, allowing 3-D spaces to be browsed like websites and other hypertext.

wireframe

(website design) a skeletal version of a website or product that represents navigational concepts and page content. The term is used in 2 broad ways:

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X-Windows

a standard graphics platform for GUI environments. The X-Windows environment is defined as a terminal standard, much like text terminals (e.g. VT100), but for graphics. X-Windows typically runs on Unix systems and allows both local and remote users of a…