ABSTRACT
In computer graphics, various kinds of models are used to describe 3D objects, but the most preferred is the polygon mesh. This chapter presents how it is created, represented, and transferred to run-time applications such as game programs. Note that the mesh's vertices are the points that sample the smooth surface and therefore the polygon mesh is not an accurate representation but an approximate one. A triangle is the simplest polygon and the triangle mesh is most popularly used. A programmer may not have to understand how a polygon mesh is created since it is the job of an artist. Modeling packages provide the artist with various operations such as selection, translation, rotation, and scaling for manipulating the topological entities of a polygon mesh, that is vertices, edges, and faces. Polygon meshes and related data created using off-line graphics packages are stored in files and passed to the runtime 3D application program.
