What is "texture mapping"

vb. (present participle of texture map English)

Texture mapping is a method for defining high frequency detail, surface texture, or color information on a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974.

Texture mapping originally referred to a method (now more accurately called diffuse mapping) that simply wrapped and mapped pixels from a texture to a 3D surface. In recent decades the advent of multi-pass rendering and complex mapping such as height mapping, bump mapping, normal mapping, displacement mapping, reflection mapping, specular mapping, mipmaps, occlusion mapping, and many other variations on the technique (controlled by a materials system) have made it possible to simulate near- photorealism in real time by vastly reducing the number of polygons and lighting calculations needed to construct a realistic and functional 3D scene.