normaalsed

Normaalsed (normals) are vectors or lines perpendicular to a surface. In mathematics, physics and computer graphics, normaalsed describe the local orientation of a surface at a point. The term normaalsed is the Estonian plural form; the singular is normaalne. Normals are key for determining how a surface is oriented relative to light and other objects.

Computing normaalsed depends on geometry. For a flat polygon in 3D space, the normal is given by the cross product of two edge vectors and then normalized to unit length. In a polygon mesh, a vertex normal is typically obtained by averaging the normals of all adjacent faces and normalizing. This yields smooth shading; to preserve sharp edges, separate face normals may be used, or weighting by face angles can be applied.

Applications include shading and lighting in computer graphics, where normals determine how light reflects off surfaces; in physical simulations to resolve forces perpendicular to surfaces; and in computer vision for estimating surface orientation. Normal maps encode per-pixel normals to add detail without increasing geometry. Related concepts include normal vector, surface normal, and normal map.