Appendix: Rendering Glossary

This glossary defines visualization terms used with MicroStation.

A

adaptive subdivision

Process within radiosity solving that dynamically subdivides a surface element mesh along shadow boundaries, resulting in more accurate and detailed shading.

aliasing

Source of several common computer graphics artifacts such as jagged lines, missing objects, and jerky motion in animation. In signal processing terms, aliasing is caused by the undersampling of a signal, resulting in some high-frequency components of the signal assuming the alias (or false identity) of the low frequency components, and mixing together in such a way that they can no longer be distinguished properly.

ambient light

Imaginary light that is presumed to strike every point on a surface with equal intensity. Used to approximate the large-scale effects of diffuse inter-reflections, a phenomenon not usually accounted for by most lighting methods. Ambient light should be turned off when using particle tracing or radiosity solving, both of which take into account the diffuse reflection of light between surfaces.

antialiasing

Special rendering processing to remove or limit the appearance of aliasing artifacts in an image or an animation sequence. See also sample.

area light source

Light source created from a MicroStation shape element. This type of light source casts softer, more natural shadows than a Point light source.

C

camera

Imaginary entity that specifies a scene's viewing position, orientation, and perspective. See also animation camera.

caustics

Lighting effects...