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Advantages and disadvantages of Z-buffer

Short answer

Advantages: simple to implement, no object sorting, handles any surface type, incremental depth computation, and easy addition of new objects. Disadvantages: requires a full depth buffer, cannot handle transparency, suffers aliasing, wastes time on hidden surfaces, and has limited depth precision.

List the advantages and disadvantages of the Z-buffer algorithm.

Advantages

  1. Simple to implement, in software or hardware.
  2. Needs no sorting of objects, and polygons can be processed in any order.
  3. Works with any type of surface (including intersecting surfaces) and complex scenes.
  4. Execution time is nearly independent of scene complexity; each pixel is handled by simple comparisons.
  5. Depth is computed incrementally by additions only (fast).
  6. New objects can be added easily to an existing image.

Disadvantages

  1. Needs extra memory for the depth buffer (same size as the frame buffer).
  2. Cannot handle transparent or translucent surfaces; only the nearest surface is kept.
  3. Aliasing: no anti-aliasing, as only one depth and colour is stored per pixel.
  4. Time is wasted on hidden surfaces (overdraw).
  5. Limited depth resolution may cause z-fighting between close surfaces.
  6. Buffers must be cleared for every frame.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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