Graphic Styles

Graphics are visual representations of what the computer is processing. Graphics are displayed on a display unit (Monitor, TV, Projector, etc...) by manipulating pixels. Once the display unit has gathered all the pixels it needs (Generally for Computers, either 480,000 or 789,504 pixels), it displays them on the screen, by piecing them together like a puzzle.

There are two methods of displaying graphics on a screen. The first is interlacing, in which every other scanline of the graphics is displayed simultaneously. This saves bandwidth in older video cord standards while keeping an acceptable video quality. However, interlacing can create distortions in the displayed image. The second method is progressive scan. In this method, all the scanlines that make up the image are displayed per frame, allowing for a higher quality image. It also removes the distortions found with interlacing. However, progressive scan requires a high-bandwidth digital connection.

2D Graphics (Sprites)

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During the early days of video games, game graphics could only be displayed in 2D. Landscapes, characters, effects, and menus were all created as two-dimensional images known as sprites. Each sprite is a losslessly-encoded image, usually a PNG or similar format image in modern 2D games. Sprites can be manipulated with enough processing power. Each character sprite has frames of animation that have to be individually drawn, much like cels in a traditional cartoon. In this sense, sprite-based video games are an extension of cel-based animation. Most sprites are low-resolution, especially those from older games, but newer sprite-based games, such as Rayman Origins, use high-resolution sprites to achieve an animated-cartoon look that even cel-shading cannot achieve.

Texture Mapping

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Texture Mapping is the fundamental method of texturing a 3D model in any medium that uses 3D computer graphics. Textures are image files drawn in such a way that stretching, or mapping, them over a 3D model results in that model resembling an actual object.

Realistic Shading

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Realistic shading is the most prevalent lighting method in all of 3D-based media. Realistic lighting is used to achieve a realistic look in a video game. It is usually accompanied with highly detailed textures and large amounts of effects. Realistic shading was the first type of lighting system used after the "simple lighting" of early 3D games. Realistic lighting is relatively easy to achieve with programming, leading to its widespread use in video games. Realistic lighting itself can range from simple "soft" lighting seen in early 3D games to complex "ultra-realistic" lighting seen in today's games. Fully realistic lighting can only be achieved with non-real-time ray-tracing, which requires so much computer power that real-time ray tracing at an acceptable framerate is probably not possible for the next decade. As such, realistic shading, which only approximates how light works, is currently used.

Cel-Shading

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Cel-shading is an alternative lighting method used to simulate an animated cartoon, or in the case of Skyward Sword, a painting. Cel-shading was first used for pre-rendered computer animations in the 1980s. Animation companies like Disney switched from traditional hand animation to 3D-based cel-shading rendering engines for cartoons, such as Deep Canvas, in the 1990s. The first use of cel-shading in video games was Jet Set Radio for the Sega Dreamcast. Cel-shading is more intensive than realistic shading methods, as it requires more calculations to be able to render the cartoon-like graphics correctly. This is because cel-shading achieves a flat look, and the graphics engine has to calculate how a surface is lit from different angles so that it looks flat. Cel-shading is merely a different type of lighting, and uses the same type of assets as ordinary games. Textures are usually simple to achieve a cartoon-like look.

Effects
Effects are used to achieve realism or to increase visual appeal in video games.

Bloom
Bloom is a lighting effect that simulates the high intensity of light coming directly from the Sun that is reflected off of a reflective surface. Twilight Princess uses this effect to a great degree, and is a source of dislike for the game.

Tone-Mapping
Tone Mapping is the manipulation of the final image, so that it can be displayed a certain way on every display unit. LCD Screens are brighter then plasma screens, so if the console is set to LCD Screen mode, then the hardware will darken the output image. Tone Mapping is used to ensure that the image remains identical on all display screens.

Reflections
Reflections are achieved in two main ways: Environment mapping and Double Rendering. Environment mapping is the more popular of the two methods, as it requires less time and computation than Double Rendering.

Environment (Reflection) Mapping
Environment mapping is an effect used to achieve highly realistic reflective effects without much CPU calculations. This is done by "mapping" the contents of the room containing the reflective object to the object, similarly to texture mapping. This enables realistic and believable reflections without much work or CPU power. However, objects that disappear or reappear cannot have a reflection-map counterpart.

Double Rendering
Double Rendering is the act of rendering an exact mirror copy of a 3D scene behind or beneath a mirror to produce reflective effects. While this achieves a slightly more accurate look and enables easier placement of the player in a mirror image, the accuracy gained is negligible and the method requires rendering twice as many polygons as is required with reflection-mapped reflections.

Bump and Displacement Mapping
Bump mapping is a graphical effect used to create realistic lighting effects that simulate a complex surface on a simple one. This technique is used to save CPU power. This effect was only used in Skyward Sword for the Goddess Cubes and their accompanying chests.

Displacement mapping is a more advanced version of bump mapping that simulates actual complex polygonal surfaces, enabling the use of deep cracks or crevices which aren't possible with bump mapping.

Light Mapping
Light mapping is an effect used to simulate "gloss" or "sheen" in materials that do not produce a true reflection. Different areas of a model can be mapped with different light-maps, creating the illusion of the model being made of different materials. Light-mapping can sometimes be mistaken for bump-mapping, because both bump-mapping and light-mapping can be used to create the illusion of small cracks or grooves in a surface.

TEV Pipeline
The TEV (Texture EnVironment) pipeline is a feature of the Nintendo GameCube (and by extension. the Wii) that can apply special effects to the final rendered graphics of a game and even program shaders, even though the GameCube and the Wii do not support programmable shaders. This feature was most prominently used in Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader for the effect used by spacecraft targeting computers. The TEV pipeline may also have been used for the Wolf Sense mode in Twilight Princess.

Lens Flare
Lens flare in video games is the simulation of the internal reflections of a camera lens, to increase realism. Its first Zelda debut was in Ocarina of Time. Lens flare is usually colored, and also accompanies "digital camera light compensation" effects.

Digital Camera Light Compensation
Digital camera light compensation is an effect in video games that simulates the darkening of an image when a digital camera is pointed into a bright light source. It is a rather rare effect, as most developers choose not to use this effect to portray the video game's camera as the eyes of a person, rather than an artificial image sensor. The distinction between digital camera light compensation and imitation of the human eye can be seen in The Wind Waker. In the game, when the sun is directly facing the camera in the normal camera mode, the image darkens according to digital camera light compensation. In first-person view mode, where the player is looking through Link's eyes, digital camera light compensation does not appear, because the camera is imitating the human eye.

Depth-of-Field Blur
Depth-of-field blur is the imitation of an out-of-focus camera. It was first used in the Zelda series in The Wind Waker, where it also served as a smoothing filter. Depth-of-field blur usually occurs only in the distance, but in rare circumstances, objects in the foreground may be blurred. Depth-of-field blur can be manipulated in real-time to simulate a camera focusing in and out, or to draw attention to foreground and background objects.

Motion Blur
Motion blur is the simulation of blurring caused by fast-moving objects captured by a camera. This effect was used to a great extent in Majora's Mask, despite the Nintendo 64's limited capabilities.

Image Distortion
Image distortion is the distortion of all or part of a rendered image to achieve some effect. It is most commonly used to simulate the convection currents caused by intense heat from flames or lava, and sometimes used to "simulate" an underwater scene (though in real life, images do not distort underwater.) Distortion may also be used to show an invisible object or certain types of magic. The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess used distortion in great amounts, though strangely, Skyward Sword did away with all heat-based distortions.

Particles
Particles are used in video games to simulate smoke, sparks, or fog. Usually, particles obey the laws of physics, though this is not always so. Particles can be made to clump together in a cloud or float around diffusely. Particles may also be used to simulate hair, though this is not used in the Zelda series.

Cloth Simulation
Cloth simulation is a physics effect that simulates the effect of gravity or wind on a soft, floppy material, usually cloth or hair. The Wind Waker was the first Zelda game to use such physics in great amounts, though Majora's Mask was the first Zelda game to use it at all.