tekstuurcoördinaat

Tekstuurcoördinaat, often referred to as UV-coördinaat, is a concept used in 3D computer graphics to map a 2D image, known as a texture, onto a 3D model's surface. Imagine you have a flat image of a brick wall that you want to wrap around a 3D cube. The tekstuurcoördinaat tells the computer exactly which part of the 2D image should be displayed on each specific point of the 3D model's surface.

Each vertex of a 3D model is assigned a pair of values, typically denoted as (u, v). The 'u' coordinate represents the horizontal position within the texture image, usually ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 is the left edge and 1 is the right edge. Similarly, the 'v' coordinate represents the vertical position, also ranging from 0 to 1, with 0 being the bottom edge and 1 the top edge.

When rendering a 3D model, the graphics hardware interpolates these (u, v) values across the faces of the model. This interpolation determines which texel, or texture pixel, from the 2D image should be sampled and applied to each pixel on the screen. This process allows for the visual detail and complexity of 2D images to be applied to the surfaces of 3D objects, creating realistic materials like wood, metal, or fabric without needing to model that detail geometrically. The process of assigning these coordinates to a 3D model is called UV unwrapping.