Software Rendering

Software rendering refers to the method of graphic calculation without specialized hardware, that is, only by the CPU without the assistance of a graphics card or equivalent. The graphics card thereby derives uninvolved the calculated data from the CPU to the monitor.

Software rendering was used mainly before the widespread use of graphics cards in home computers of games, and is to this day in some 3d applications available as an option for users who own a video card without 3D acceleration or without the required drivers.

But there are also situations in which a conscious renunciation of using the graphics card can be useful, for example if a hardware independent identical looking image is desired, in which the video card can not cause by representing uncertainty through vendor dependent instruction interpret different images. Therefore, the reference image generation is sometimes resorted to software rendering to.

These advantages are gained by often slow, faltering representation, since the CPU is not specialized graphic. Is therefore used in games when using software rendering mostly on the smallest possible level of detail so that software rendering can deliver even a halfway decent frame rate.

• Image synthesis