This rendering method is also referred to as billboarding. The image can be scaled to simulate perspective, it can be rotated two dimensionally, it can overlap other objects and be occluded, but it can only be viewed from the same angle.

Unlike a texture map, the sprite plane is always perpendicular to the axis emanating from the camera. More often sprite now refers to a partially transparent two dimensional animation that is mapped onto a special plane in a three dimensional scene. As three-dimensional graphics became more prevalent, the term was used to describe a technique whereby flat images are seamlessly integrated into complicated three-dimensional scenes. That is, figures generated by either custom hardware or by software alone were all referred to as sprites.

As computer performance improved, this optimization became unnecessary and the term evolved to refer specifically to the two dimensional images themselves that were integrated into a scene. Sprites were originally invented as a method of quickly compositing several images together in two-dimensional video games using special hardware. In computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names see Synonyms below) is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene.

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