3dlabs Oxygen GVX210 User Manual download pdf (Page 44)

Glossary

3Dlabs Oxygen GVX210 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.

Anti-Aliasing

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.

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.

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3dlabs Oxygen GVX210 User Manual Page 44