There is a point in nearly every film-goer’s life when he sees
something in a movie and wonders, “now how on earth did they do
that?” Some of the images that have been created for the silver
screen are truly astounding, from the earth-shaking battles in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to the mesmerizing digital
environments produced for Avatar, Tron: Legacy, and 2010′s
visual effects champion, Inception. When you look deep under the
hood, there is a tremendous amount of sophisticated math and
science that goes into modern computer graphics. But for every
computer scientist working behind the scenes, there are three or
four digital artists working hard to bring the creatures,
characters, and landscapes of their imaginations to life. The
Computer Graphics Pipeline The process that goes into the
production of a fully realized 3D movie character or environment
is known by industry professionals as the “computer graphics
pipeline.” Even though the process is quite complex from a
technical standpoint, it’s actually