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Glossary

In this chapter, we will collect and explain some glossaries and abbreviations in or related in Cocos Creator.

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Editor

GlossaryDescription
EditorUsually refers to the editor interface of Cocos Creator
GizmoSome controllers in the scene editor, such as for adjusting the position, rotation, scaling, or lighting of nodes, etc.

Graphs

GlossaryDescription
VB, Vertex BufferA vertex buffer is a set of vertices in a model, often described as an array, where each element of the array is a composite structure, including properties such as Position, Texture-coordinate, Color or Normal.
IB, Index BufferIndex Buffer, which stores the indexes of the vertices in the above VB, through which the specific geometry is combined, example: If VB is { (0, 0, 0), (1, 0, 0), (1, 1, 0) }, IB is [0, 2, 1], then the vertices of the triangle are drawn as follows: { VB[0], VB[2], VB[1] }
FPSFrame rate, the number of renderings per second.
Layerrefers to the grouping of nodes when rendering, and the Visibility property of the camera can be used to handle whether certain nodes are rendered by the camera.
LODLevel of details,which improves rendering efficiency by having models with different levels of details at different levels.

Illumination

GlossaryDescription
GI, Global IlluminationGlobal illumination, or local illumination, refers to a set of algorithms used in computer graphics to calculate and simulate realistic light sources
LDRLow Dynamic Range Light, usually refers to the color range of a single color between [0,255] (integer) or [0,1.0] (floating point), which is the color space that most display devices can display.
HDRHigh Dynamic Range Light refers to colors whose color gamut is outside of the color space described in the above article. The colors in the display are likely to be outside of this color range, so they need to be converted to a region recognizable by the display using Tone Mapping when displayed on the display device.

2D/UI

GlossaryDescription
2D ObjectA 2D object created by a right-click menu within the Hierarchy Manager.
UI ObjectA UI object created by the Hierarchy Manager right-click menu, usually encapsulating some UI element for interaction
Sprite AtlasAtlas, which is used to improve rendering efficiency by combining some pieces into a single large image, and the engine provides auto-atlas function

Animation

GlossaryDescription
SpineA 2D animation software whose output animation files can be recognized by Cocos Creator
DragonBoneA 2D animation software whose output animation files can be recognized by Cocos Creator
DragonBoneA 2D animation software whose output animation files can be recognized by Cocos Creator.
AnimationAnimation, the engine's built-in animation, no skinning, support for different nodes can be created through the editor animation function, more
SkeletalAnimationSkeletalAnimation, animation component with skinning, more
MarionetteAn animation system that supports user-defined state maps, and SkeletalAnimation for rich functionality, more

Physical

GlossaryDescription
ForceThe force that allows an object to move linearly
Torquethe force that makes an object rotate

2D Physics

GlossaryDescription
Physics backendsThe type of physics engine that the engine is wrapped in, the two types of physics backends provided by Cocos Creator are Built-In and Box2D
Box2DBox2D is a well-known and efficient 2D physics engine
Rigid bodiesDefine objects with mass that can be affected by forces and velocities, and are usually of four types: kinematic, dynamic, static and animated.
Joint2DPhysics joints are used to describe the physical connections between objects.
Physical MaterialsPhysical materials for adjusting the handling of friction and elasticity when two physical colliding bodies collide.

3D Physics

GlossaryDescription
Physics BackendThe type of physics engine that the engine encapsulates. Cocos Creator provides several physics engines including: Built-In, Bullet, PhysX and cannon.js etc., which can be modified in the project settings to adapt to different platforms and situations, Note: The engine unifies most of the physics engine differences. However, some physics specific are only supported in specific physics backends.
Rigid bodyDefines an object with mass that can be affected by forces and velocities, usually of three types: kinematic, dynamic, and static.
ConstraintA physical constraint that describes the physical connection between objects.
Physical materialsAdjusts the handling of frictional and elastic forces when two physical colliding objects collide.
ForceThe force that allows the object to move linearly.
TorqueTorque, the force that makes the object rotate

Asset System

GlossaryDescription
Bundle, Asset BundleA way of handling resources, where the engine algorithmically combines one or more resources into a single file (usually some kind of compressed file) for efficient storage and downloading
ResourcesA special directory that the engine packages into a special bundle, which is loaded via methods such as Resources.load
Cocos StoreCocos' resource store, where developers can sell and buy assets, source code, or complete commercial games

Scripting and Programming

GlossaryDescription
ComponentA script class than inherits from cc.Component, and can be attach to a cc.Node.
EventsCocos Creator based on Web Event Standard implemented as an event system for responding to hardware input or communication between nodes, more.

Native Development

GlossaryDescription
NativeRefers to the ability provided by Cocos Creator to run on any desktop native platform or mobile native platform without relying on a browser
CMakeA file format or tool for organizing C++ code

Other Features

GlossaryDescription
XRExtended Reality. Cocos Creator extensions adapted to OpenXR can assist you in creating added reality features, more.
ARAugmented reality. Technology that connects the virtual world with reality, you can use Cocos Creator to implement your own AR applications. more.