Phong Shading

What Does Phong Shading Mean?

Phong shading is a specific type of shading technique in 3-D computer graphics that is useful for smoothing out multi-surface shapes and creating more sophisticated computer-modeled images. Experts refer to the technique as “interpolation,” where Phong shading visualizes a smoother surface for a 3-D model.

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Techopedia Explains Phong Shading

Phong shading is named after Bui Tuong Phong who pioneered it at the University of Utah in 1975. It has become a way to more elegantly model shapes composed of polygon surfaces. Some experts explain the technique of Phong shading as “computing the lighting per fragment, not per vertex,” which results in smoothly contoured surfaces and precision lighting of these surfaces. Phong shading can be compared to Goraud shading, another visual interpolation technique.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…