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This chapter completes the journey from Bezier surfaces to NURBS surfaces in much the same way that Chapters 3 through 5 moved from Bezier curves to NURBS curves. NURBS surfaces are the superset of all the previously described surfaces, which is why you see NURBS modeling tools and not B-spline modeling tools. The tendency among many developers is to use those tools for modeling, but then to export a polygonal mesh for the actual game. As you read this chapter, consider advantages of using NURBS in your game. In many cases, you'll have to create polygons before you actually render, but you can use the NURBS information to generate different levels of detail. Also, hardware support for higher-order surfaces is becoming more prevalent . In the future, you might not have to generate your own polygons.
By now, you know all of the basic ideas and you will see that NURBS surfaces are not all that different from the B-spline surfaces in Chapter 8. This chapter will cover the following material:
Advantages of NURBS surfaces over B-spline surfaces
Extending NURBS to two dimensions
Implementing NURBS surfaces
An example of a NURBS surface that is more useful than the "wavy sheet" examples in previous chapters
A look at the size and bandwidth advantages of a NURBS model
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