Three-dimensional graphics is the area of computer graphics that deals with producing two-dimensional representations, or images, of three-dimensional synthetic scenes, as seen from a given viewing configuration. The level of sophistication of these images may vary from simple wire-frame representations, where objects are depicted as a set of segment lines, with no data on surfaces and volumes, to photorealistic rendering, where illumination effects are computed using the physical laws of light propagation. All the different approaches are based on the metaphor of a virtual camera positioned in 3D space and looking at the scene. Hence, independently from the rendering algorithm used, producing an image of the scene always requires the resolution of the following problems: 1. Modeling geometric relationships among scene objects, and in particular efficiently representing the situation in 3D space of objects and virtual cameras; 2. Culling and clipping, i.e. efficiently determining which objects are visible from the virtual camera; 3. Projecting visible objects on the film plane of the virtual camera in order to render them. This chapter provides an introduction to the field by presenting the standard approaches for solving the aforementioned problems.
