3D GLOSSARY

Algorithm
A set of well-defined instructions given to the computer for accomplishing some specific task.

Aliasing
Artifact or distortion, often referred to as 'jaggies', that occurs in a digital image when not enough samples are taken to accurately  represent straight lines and smooth transition between highly contrasted edges. In a 3D rendered image, the most common example is the stair-stepping effect seen along the edges of objects.

Ambient Occlusion
Ambient Occlusion is a shading method that is often used as a replacement to Global Illumination because it can be much faster to render and easier to control, but it’s not that accurate. It adds extra soft self-shadowing, which gives the image more realism. A common technique is to render the scene in normal way and then render out a separate Ambient Occlusion pass to make a final composite.

Anti-aliasing
Techniques to remove aliasing artifacts. Some examples are oversampling/supersampling and filtering.

Bump mapping
A technique where at each pixel, a perturbation to the surface normal of the object being rendered is looked up in a heightmap and applied before the illumination calculation is done. The result is a richer, more detailed surface representation.

Cautics
The light patterns generated on a surface by reflected or refracted light rays. Photon mapping is one implementation of this.

CGI
Computer-Generated Imagery. It´s the application of the field of 3D computer graphics to special effects. CGI is used in films, television programs and commercials, and in printed media. Video games most often use real-time computer graphics (rarely referred to as CGI), but may also include pre-rendered "cut scenes" and intro movies that would be typical CGI applications. These are referred to as FMV (full motion video). 

Constraints
Limitations applied, particularly to the movement of an object.

Convex hull
The “skin” created by enclosing all the extreme points of a 3D object.

Displacement mapping
An alternative technique in contrast to bump mapping, normal mapping, and parallax mapping, that uses a heightmap to cause an effect where the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface are displaced along the surface normal according to the values stored into the texture.

Dynamics
The branch of mechanics dealing with the way masses move under the
influence of forces and torques. Increasingly used to drive animations by the
application of physical laws.