Computer Generated Images and Video and Their Purpose
Traditionally, the goal of computer graphics has been photo-realism; to generate synthetic images that are indistinguishable from photographs. Today, this goal has arguably been achieved. Given enough time computers can generate imagery that is indistinguishable from photographic images to the naked eye, and models exist that simulate optical processes down to the level of individual photons. Generating computer images that are indistinguishable from photographs is essential for a host of applications including design, marketing, and the entertainment industry. In many applications, however, an artistic image has advantages over a photorealistic image. Artistic images omit extraneous detail, focus attention on relevant features, clarify, simplify, and disambiguate shape, and show hidden parts. This has lead an increasing number of scientists to question realism as the only goal for computer graphics, and ask: What are the images we create used for? If the purpose of an image is simula