Many applications in computer graphics require complex, highly
detailed models. However, the level of detail actually necessary
may vary considerably. To control processing time, it is often desirable
to use approximations in place of excessively detailed models.
The creation of believable and endearing characters in computer
graphics presents a number of technical challenges, including the
modeling, animation and rendering of complex shapes such as
heads, hands, and clothing.
CORDIC (Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer) is a method for computing elementary functions using minimal hardware such as shifts, adds/subs and compares.
CORDIC works by rotating the coordinate system through constant angles until the angle is reduces to zero. The angle offsets are selected such that the operations on X and Y are only shifts and adds.