Rendering

There are two categories of rendering: pre-rendering and real-time rendering. The striking difference between the two lies in the speed at which the computation and finalization of images takes place.

• Real-Time Rendering: The prominent rendering technique using in interactive graphics and gaming where images must be created at a rapid pace. Because user interaction is high in such environments, real-time image creation is required. Dedicated graphics hardware and pre-compiling of the available information has improved the performance of real-time rendering.
• Pre-Rendering: This rendering technique is used in environments where speed is not a concern and the image calculations are performed using multi-core central processing units rather than dedicated graphics hardware. This rendering technique is mostly used in animation and visual effects, where photorealism needs to be at the highest standard possible.

For these rendering types,the three major computational techniques used are:

• Scanline
• Raytracing
• Radiosity