How 3D Works in Games - Beginning Game Art in 3ds Max 8 - page 2

How Art Is Displayed
The best way to begin any discussion on game art is to clarify how art is displayed
in a game. Most people play games on a computer, handheld device, or console
game system. The pictures we see in games on these systems are made up of small,
colored square dots of light called pixels . More precisely, a pixel can be defined as
the smallest controllable segment of a display. Back when computer games first
came out, the resolution of video-game pixels was very low, and they appeared as
big blocks of color. As technology has advanced, the size of pixels has shrunk to the
point that in some game systems it is difficult to see a single pixel.
Pixels are small dots of colored light that make up pictures on a computer screen.
We are reiterating this because it is very important. In traditional art, artists work
mostly with the reflected light of a painted surface. For games, artists work with
pure light as it is displayed on a screen as opposed to painting on a canvas. This
fundamental difference takes a little getting used to, particularly in the area of
color (see Figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 This image is enlarged to show the individual pixels.