Rasterisation
process of describing an image in terms of a pixel or voxel grid (named after the Latin word for rake, as the picture/volumetric elements are usually arranged in lines like those produced by a rake)
In computer graphics, rasterisation (British English) or rasterization (American English) is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format (shapes) and converting it into a raster image which represents the original image. The rasterized image may then be displayed on a computer display, video display, or printer, or stored in a bitmap file format. Rasterization may refer to the technique of drawing 3D models, or to the conversion of 2D rendering primitives, such as polygons and line segments, into a rasterized format.
Etymology
The term "rasterisation" comes from German Raster 'grid, pattern, schema' and Latin rāstrum 'scraper, rake'.
2D images
Line primitives
Bresenham's line algorithm is an example of an algorithm used to rasterize lines.
Circle primitives
Algorithms such as the midpoint circle algorithm are used to render circles onto a pixelated canvas.
Triangle rasterization
Polygons are a common representation of digital 3D models. Before rasterization, individual polygons are triangulated - therefore, a typical problem to solve in 3D rasterization is rasterization of a triangle.
Properties that are usually required from triangle rasterization algorithms are that rasterizing two adjacent triangles (i.e. those that share an edge) are:
it leaves no 'holes' (non-rasterized pixels) between the triangles, so that the rasterized area is completely filled (just as the surface of adjacent triangles)
no pixel is rasterized more than once, i.e.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rasterisation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.