API

api stands for application programming interface

an API is a source code interface that another computer application provides support requests to for services made of it by a computer programme there are many examples of APIs such as windowsAPI, OpenGL, YoutubeAPI and DirectX

in summary an API is an interface that programmers use to get there rpogram to use another program so an API would use the command jump so the programmer would program a line of code saying when the user presses this or types this ie a button or type hop, jump in the API is activated

Lighting in Open GL

there are the open gl lighitng vertex, pixel and polygon

also there is normal

Vertex Lighting

the advantages of vertex light are that

each polgon will point in a slightly different direction and will wind up gradating and interpolatinf light colours across a the polygon and you get smoother lighting as a result

also the hardware can be used faster using transform and lighting

the drawback of vertex lighting is that it dosnt produce shadowing

trasform and lighting is the two major steps in the 3d Grpahics pipeline

the trasform is the data taken from the world space and gets ‘trasformed’ into screen space

Shaders

Shaders are algorithms that conrtols how the object reacts to light shaders can make things look shiney or dull and make the object seem more lifelike

if i was going to use a shader to make my object appear shiny i would use Phong because it Gouraud make the obejct look a little dull

Lightmaps

Lightmaps light map is a static lighting used in games/programs it is basicly a canned effectthis works well but when the game has dynamic lighting then you have to change the light maps frames to go accordingly with every change that has been made

lightmaps are still used today in games because its so cheap