Tessellation (computer graphics)

In computer graphics, tessellation is the dividing of datasets of polygons (sometimes called vertex sets) presenting objects in a scene into suitable structures for rendering.

[1][2] A key advantage of tessellation for realtime graphics is that it allows detail to be dynamically added and subtracted from a 3D polygon mesh and its silhouette edges based on control parameters (often camera distance).

In previously leading realtime techniques such as parallax mapping and bump mapping, surface details could be simulated at the pixel level, but silhouette edge detail was fundamentally limited by the quality of the original dataset.

[4] By offloading the tessellation process onto the GPU hardware, smoothing can be performed in real time.

Tessellation can also be used for implementing subdivision surfaces, level of detail scaling and fine displacement mapping.