3D models can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena. The model can also be physically created using 3D printing devices.
3D graphics have become so popular, particularly in video games, that specialized APIs also known as application programming interface's have been created to ease the processes in all stages of computer graphics generation. These APIs have also proved vital to computer graphics hardware manufacturers, as they provide a way for programmers to access the hardware in an abstract way, while still taking advantage of the special hardware of any specific graphics card. In 3D computer graphics, the graphics pipeline refers to the sequence of steps used to create a 2D raster representation of a 3D scene. Rendering is the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model by means of computer programs.