In the context of rendering (computer graphics), software rendering refers to a rendering process that is unaided by any specialized graphics hardware, such as a graphics card. The rendering takes place entirely in the CPU. Rendering everything with the (general-purpose) CPU has the main advantage that it is not restricted to the (limited) capabilities of graphics hardware.
Software rendering can be split into two main categories: real-time rendering (also known as online rendering), and pre-rendering (also called offline rendering). Real-time rendering is used to interactively render a scene, like in 3D computer games, and generally each frame must be rendered in a few miliseconds. Offline rendering is used to create realistic images and movies, where each frame can take hours or days to complete.
Read more about Software Rendering: Real-time Software Rendering, Pre-rendering
Famous quotes containing the word rendering:
“Americans are notorious for looking to their children for approval. How our children turn out and what they think of us has become the “final judgment” on our lives. . . . We imagine that the rising generation is rendering history’s verdict on us. We may resent children simply because we expect a harsh judgment from them.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)