[WML-Source: Glossary_sort.wml][TOC][Part00]

[chapter]

[section]Glossary

[point]Active

Blender makes a distinction between selected and active. Only one Object or item can be active at any given time, for example to allow visualization of data in buttons.

[point]Alpha

The alpha value in an image denotes opacity, used for blending and antialiasing.

[point]Ambient light

Light that exists everywhere without any particular source. Ambient light does not cast shadows, but fills in the shadowed areas of a scene.

[point]Anti-aliasing

Algorithm designed to reduce the stair-stepping artifacts that result from drawing graphic primitives on a raster grid.

[point]AVI

"Audio Video Interleaved". A container format for video with synchronized audio. A AVI-file can contain different compressed video and audio-streams.

[point]Back-buffer

Blender uses two buffers to draw the interface in. This double-buffering system allows one buffer to be displayed, while drawing occurs on the back-buffer. For some applications in Blender the back-buffer is used to store color-coded selection information.

[point]Beveling

Beveling removes sharp edges from an extruded object by adding additional material around the surrounding faces. Bevels are particularly useful for flying logos, and animation in general, since they reflect additional light from the corners of an object as well as from the front and sides.

[point]Bounding box

A six-sided box drawn on the screen that represents the maximum extents of an object.

[point]Bump map

A grayscale image used to give a surface the illusion of ridges or bumps. In Blender bumpmaps are called Nor-maps.

[point]Channel

  1. Some DataBlocks can be linked to a series of other DataBlocks. For example, a Material has eight channels to link Textures to.
  2. Each Ipo block has a fixed number of available channels. These have a name (LocX, SizeZ, enz.) which indicates how they can be applied. When you add an IpoCurve to a channel, animation starts up immediately.

[point]Child

Objects can be linked to each other in hierarchical groups. The Parent Object in such groups passes its transformations through to the Child Objects.

[point]Clipping

Removing, before drawing occurs, of vertices and faces which are outside the field of view.

[point]DataBlock (or 'block')

The general name for an element in Blender's Object Oriented System.

[point]Double-buffer

Blender uses two buffers (images) to draw the interface in. The content of one buffer is displayed, while drawing occurs on the other buffer. When drawing is complete, the buffers are switched.

[point]Extend select

Add new selected items to the current selection.

[point]Extrusion

The creation of a three-dimensional object by pushing out a two-dimensional outline to give it height, like a cookie-cutter. It is often used to create 3D text.

[point]Face

The triangle and square polygons that form the basis for Meshes or for rendering.

[point]Field

Frames from videos in NTSC or PAL format are composed of two interlaced fields.

[point]Flag

A programming term for a variable that indicates a certain status.

[point]Flat shading

A fast rendering algorithm that simply gives each facet of an object a single color. It yields a solid representation of objects without taking a long time to render. Pressing ZKEY switches to flat shading in Blender.

[point]Fps

Frames per second. All animations, video, and movies are played at a certain rate. Above ca. 15fps the human eye cannot see the single frames and is tricked into seeing a fluid motion. NTSC uses 30fps, PAL 25fps, and movies 24fps.

[point]Frame

A single picture taken from an animation or video.

[point]Gouraud shading

A rendering algorithm that provides more detail. It averages color information from adjacent faces to create colors. It is more realistic than flat shading, but less realistic than Phong shading or ray-tracing. Hotkey in Blender is CTRL-Z .

[point]Hierarchy

Objects can be linked to each other in hierarchical groups. The Parent Object in such groups passes its transformations through to the Child Objects.

[point]Ipo

The main animation curve system. Ipo blocks can be used by Objects for movement, and also by Materials for animated colors.

[point]IpoCurve

The Ipo animation curve.

[point]Item

The general name for a selectable element, e.g. Objects, vertices or curves.

[point]Keyframe

A frame in a sequence that specifies all of the attributes of an object. The object can then be changed in any way and a second keyframe defined. Blender automatically creates a series of transition frames between the two keyframes, a process called "tweening."

[point]Lathe

A lathe object is created by rotating a two-dimensional shape around a central axis. It is convenient for creating 3D objects like glasses, vases, and bowls. In Blender this is called "spinning".

[point]Layer

A visibility flag for Objects, Scenes and 3DWindows. This is a very efficient method for testing Object visibility.

[point]Link

The reference from one DataBlock to another. It is a 'pointer' in programming terminology.

[point]Local

  1. Each Object in Blender defines a local 3D space, bounded by its location, rotation and size. Objects themselves reside in the global 3D space.
  2. A DataBlock is local, when it is read from the current Blender file. Non-local blocks (library blocks) are linked parts from other Blender files.

[point]Mapping

The relationship between a Material and a Texture is called the 'mapping'. This relationship is two-sided. First, the information that is passed on to the Texture must be specified. Then the effect of the Texture on the Material is specified.

[point]MPEG-I

Video compression standard by the "Motion Pictures Expert Group". Due to its small size and platform independence, it is ideal for distributing video files over the internet.

[point]MPEG

"Motion Pictures Expert Group"

[point]Normap

Blender term for bumpmap.

[point]NTSC

TV standard by the "National Television Standards Committee". Most common industry standard used in the USA and Japan.

[point]ObData block

The first and most important DataBlock linked by an Object. This block defines the Object type, e.g. Mesh or Curve or Lamp.

[point]Object

The basic 3D information block. It contains a position, rotation, size and transformation matrices. It can be linked to other Objects for hierarchies or deformation. Objects can be 'empty' (just an axis) or have a link to ObData, the actual 3D information: Mesh, Curve, Lattice, Lamp, etc.

[point]PAL

"Phase Alternating Line", a TV standard common for Europe.

[point]Parent

An object that is linked to another object, as the parent is linked to the child in a parent-child relationship. A parent object's coordinates become the center of the world for any of its child objects.

[point]Perspective view

In a perspective view, the farther an object is from the viewer, the smaller it appears. See orthographic view.

[point]Pivot

A point that normally lies at an object's geometric center. An object's position and rotation are calculated in relation to its pivot-point. However, an object can be moved off its center point, allowing it to rotate around a point that lies outside the object.

[point]Pixel

A single dot of light on the computer screen; the smallest unit of a computer graphic. Short for "picture element."

[point]Plug-In

A piece of (C-)code to load during runtime. This way it is possible to extend the functionality of Blender without a need for recompiling. In Blender we have Texture plug-ins and Sequencer plug-ins.

[point]Render

To create a two-dimensional representation (i.e. a picture for print or to display on the monitor) of an object based on its shape and surface properties.

[point]Selected

Blender makes a distinction between selected and active. Any number of Objects can be selected at once. Almost all key commands have an effect on selected Objects.

[point]Single User

DataBlocks with only one user.

[point]Smoothing

A rendering procedure that performs vertex-normal interpolation across a face before lighting calculations begin. The individual facets are then no longer visible.

[point]Title Safe

An area which is completely visible on all consumer TVs. In Blender, this area is denoted by the inner dotted line in the Camera view.

[point]Transform

Change a location, rotation, or size. Usually applied to Objects or vertices.

[point]Transparency

A surface property that determines how much light passes through an object without being altered.

[point]User

When another DataBlock referenes a DataBlock, it has a user.

[point]Vertex (vertices)

The general name for a 3D point. Besides an X,Y,Z coordinate, a vertex can have color, a normal vector and a secetion flag.

[point]Wireframe

A representation of a three-dimensional object that shows only the lines of its contours, hence the name "wireframe."

[point]X, Y, Z axes

The three axes of the world's three-dimensional coordinate system. In the front view, the X axis is an imaginary horizontal line running left to right; the Z axis is a vertical line; and Y axis is a line that comes out of the screen toward you. In general, any movement parallel to one of these axes is said to be movement along that axis.

[point]X, Y, and Z coordinates

The X coordinate of an object is measured by drawing, through its centerpoint, a line that is perpendicular to the X axis. The distance from where that line intersects the X axis to the 0 point of the X axis is the object's X coordinate. The Y and Z coordinates are measured in a similar manner.

[point]Zbuffer

For a Zbuffer image, each pixel is associated a Z-value, derived from the distance in 'eye space' from the Camera. Before each pixel of a polygon is drawn, the existing Zbuffer value is compared to the Z-value of the polygon at that point. It is a common and fast visible-surface algorithm.
-cw- Last modified: Thu Nov 2 11:17:53 CET 2000