Texel (graphics)

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This article is about computer graphics, also see: Texel (disambiguation).

A texel, or texture element (also texture pixel) is the fundamental unit of texture space^[1], used in computer graphics. Textures are represented by arrays of texels, just as pictures are represented by arrays of pixels.

When texturing a 3D surface, a process known as texture mapping maps texels to appropriate pixels in the output picture. On modern computers, this operation is accomplished on the graphics card.

When a texel is requested that is not on an integer position, texture filtering is applied.

[edit] Clamping & wrapping

When a texel is requested that is outside of the texture, a combination of two techniques is used. Clamping limits the texel to the texture size, moving it to the nearest if it is more than the texture size. Wrapping makes the texel move back into the texture by increments (each to size of the texture). Wrapping causes a texture to be repeated; clamping causes it to be in one spot only.