| 13h |
A mode of the VGA video card hardware that displays the screen in 320 x 200 pixels. |
| 2 1/2 D Graphics |
Slang. Refers to games with 3D polygon sprites and backgrounds, yet which have gameplay restricted to a 2D style. Examples are Super Smash Brothers, Einhander and Kirby 64. |
| 2&1/2-D |
A platform, rpg, or fighting game in which there is a 3-D engine but that features 2-D control or graphics, i.e. Paper Mario, Super Smash Brothers, Parappa the Rappa.
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| 2.5D |
A buzzword used to describe raycasting engines, such as Doom or Duke Nuke Em. The maps were generally drawn as 2D bitmaps with height properties but when rendered gave the appearance of being 3D models. |
| 3D |
The name of your third dimension for viewing things. The first two being width and height, the third being depth. |
| 3D Accelerator Card |
A type of graphics card which helps a computer to process 3D graphics very quickly.
* Computers cannot actually do 'real' 3D imagery (well, none that you can buy without three major lottery wins and a Chair of Lucasian Mathematics at Cambridge University). We haven't invented the Star Trek-style Holosuite(tm) yet, so computers have to create a fake 3D which gets shown on a monitor or TV. Unfortunately, the conversion from 3D to 2D that has to be done requires a lot of mathematics. A 3D Accelerator card has specially-designed stuff on it which does a lot of the mathematics for the computer - leaving the computer to get on with more interesting work. Most 3D Accelerator cards now also accelerate the basic 2D stuff. |
| 3D Engine |
A set of code that creates graphics that looks 3D. An engine would have all the necessary components from loading the models and data to drawing them on the screen.
(3D Engine List) |
| 3D Studio Max |
A highend package used for both game development, character development and film. Although a high package the price is resonable. ( www.ktx.com ) |
| 3DFX |
A company that used to make the Voodoo series of 3D accelerator cards. Notable for its innovations (SLI mode) as well as arcade hardware (some of Midway's arcade machines, including Hydro Thunder and Gauntlet Legends, were basically PCs running souped-up 3dfx cards). After a number of disappointments following the voodoo3 series, they (and their proprietary graphics API, GLIDE) were purchased by NVidia in 2000.
See Also:3D Accelerator Card, Glide |
| 3DS |
A File format for storing model geometry. Originally used by 3D Studio Max, it has become nearly a standard for 3D models. |
| 6DOF |
6 Degrees of Freedom. This refers to the ability to move in the X, Y and Z axis and also rotate around the X, Y, and Z axises.
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