Images are all around us. We see them in color and in high resolution. In fact, the natural images we see with our eyes seem perfectly smooth, with no jagged edges and no graininess. Computer graphics, on the other hand, deals with images that consist of small dots, pixels. When we first hear of this feature of computer graphics, we tend to dismiss the entire field as trivial. It seems intuitively obvious that an image that consists of dots would always look artificial, rough, and inferior to what we see with our eyes. Yet state-of-the-art computer-generated images are often difficult or impossible to distinguish from their real counterparts, even though they are discrete, made of pixels, and not continuous.

Computer graphics is important in many areas including engineering design, architecture, education, and computer art and animation. This book examines a wide array of current methods used in creating real-looking objects in the computer, one of the main aims of computer graphics.

Key features:

* Good foundational mathematical introduction to curves and surfaces; no advanced math required

* Topics organized by different interpolation/approximation techniques, each technique providing useful information about curves and surfaces

* Exposition motivated by numerous examples and exercises sprinkled throughout, aiding the reader

* Includes a gallery of color images, Mathematica code listings, and sections on curves & surfaces by refinement and on sweep surfaces

* Web site maintained and updated by the author, providing readers with errata and auxiliary material

This engaging text is geared to a broad and general readership of computer science/architecture engineers using computer graphics to design objects, programmers for computer gamemakers, applied mathematicians, and students majoring in computer graphics and its applications. It may be used in a classroom setting or as a general reference.