︎Z-buffer
n.— «Catmull invented texture mapping (the way to make digital surfaces “pour” over objects), the Z-buffer (an algorithm that tracks the virtual distance between pixels and a viewer, now standard in most personal computers and games), and the Catmull-Rom spline (another algorithm that creates curves along multiple points, producing irregular motion that mimics the way living things really move).» —“Welcome to Planet Pixar” by Austin Bunn Wired June, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...