View Open GL
Open GL (OGL) is an open graphics language standard originally developed by Silicon Graphics. All of today’s graphics cards use either OGL or DirectX to draw graphics onto your computer screen. Most animators and designers will use high end graphics cards that may include special OGL extensions which enhance the value or performance (or both) of the screen display.
OGL can perform real time shading, reflections, shadows and even glonbal illumination, depending upon the version of the OGL drivers, the capabilities of the card hardware, the software application using the card, and the abilities of the host machine. OGL results may be good enough for some uses without using the software rendering engine, though compromises would have to be made to accomodate the limitations of OGL vs. the software rendering engine.