Polygons

A polygon is a flat shape defined by several straight lines connected to enclose an area. The polygon with the least number of sides is a triangle. A generic polygon is called an n-gon where n is the number of sides. A triangle is a 3-gon, whereas squares and rectangles are 4-gons. The side of a polygon is a straight line and is called an edge. The points at which they connect are called vertices.

Polygons are classified according to their shapes, as shown in Figure 2.9:

Figure 2.9: Types of polygons (from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygon#/media/File:Polygon_types.svg)

In both 2D and 3D, the majority of objects drawn in graphics are made up of polygons; from the rectangle used to define an onscreen button, to the thousands of triangles used to construct a 3D model. It is therefore important to your knowledge of working in this area to have a strong understanding of what they are, how to construct them, and how to manipulate them.

Here are...