The winged edge data structure is a data representation used to describe polygon models in computer graphics.
The designer (stylist) cuts out the parts of the polygon model that have to be re-designed and filled it with his own NURBS surfaces.
Other features include the baking of occlusion and normal maps from highly detailed models to low polygon models.
Wings 3D can be used to model and texture low to mid-range polygon models.
The two main methods of displaying 3d polygon models are OpenGL and Direct3D.
Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of previous games with polygon models.
I loaded up a 3-million polygon model in Topogun 64-bit and drew some quad patches on the reference mesh:
To avoid discrepancies in the frame rate caused by the large number of polygon models, the modeling team had to select an aspect of each character to focus their attention.
Alternatives such as vector graphics or purely geometric polygon models can scale to any level of detail.
An alternative to polygons, it gives a smoothed out surface that eliminates the straight edges of a polygon model.