The improvements have been in the form of a 3-D graphics technique called normal mapping.

It allows for much more modern effects such as dynamic lighting and normal mapping.

Surface normals are often adjusted in 3D computer graphics by normal mapping.

Normal mapping is the most common variation of bump mapping used.

But normal mapping involves more than simply displaying minutely detailed game surfaces.

Normal mapping and occlusion mapping are the most common maps used.

"Normal mapping is a glimpse into the future for consoles and PC's," he said.

Basic normal mapping can be implemented in any hardware that supports palettized textures.

The artists used video graphics technology such as normal mapping technique to emulate brush strokes on the models' textures.

Software making heavy use of normal mapping could gain a significant speed boost from the savings in fillrate and bandwidth by using 3Dc.

The first game console to have specialized normal mapping hardware was the Sega Dreamcast.

These included bump mapping, normal mapping, and specular highlighting.

Normal mapping's popularity for real-time rendering is due to its good quality to processing requirements ratio versus other methods of producing similar effects.

The port features numerous graphical improvements over the initial PlayStation 2 version including better character models and the addition of normal mapping.

Mr. Wanat described normal mapping, sometimes called polybump mapping, as a "significant evolutionary jump" in game design.

Per-pixel lighting is commonly used with techniques like normal mapping, bump mapping, specularity, and shadow volumes.

However, with the advent of shaders in personal computers and game consoles, normal mapping became widely used in commercial video games starting in late 2003.

Lighting was enhanced with new self-shadowing normal mapping and advanced shadow rendering that is important to convey information about the environment and player actions.

Normal Mapping with paletted textures using old OpenGL extensions.

Normal mapping with per pixel lighting, as well as normal-mapped and bump-mapped animated models, objects and scenery.

The geometric detail that can be obtained using this method is nearly infinite, which removes the need for faking 3-dimensional details with techniques such as normal mapping.

Material attributes can be used to produce effects such as normal mapping, parallax mapping, horizon mapping, and bumpy reflections or refractions.

Out of the sixth generation consoles, only the PlayStation 2's GPU lacks built-in normal mapping support.

Games for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 rely heavily on normal mapping and are beginning to implement parallax mapping.

Lockdown is the first entry in the Rainbow Six series to feature graphics effects which includes normal mapping and specular lighting, as well as physics objects.