Physically-based rendering in the context of "Rendering (computer graphics)"

Rendering is the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image from input data such as 3D models. The word "rendering" (in one of its senses) originally meant the task performed by an artist when depicting a real or imaginary thing (the finished artwork is also called a "rendering"). Today, to "render" commonly means to generate an image or video from a precise description (often created by an artist) using a computer program.

A software application or component that performs rendering is called a rendering engine, render engine, rendering system, graphics engine, or simply a renderer.