Lighting - Are objects actually smooth..?

Hello everybody…

I have started studying OpenGL. I am reading book Superbible 4 and doing examples given in the book.

I have just finished chapter 5th which is on Lighting… and I am having a doubt

so que is: Is it that we are lighting the object so that it “Appears” smooth, but in actuality it is flat surface,
and because we can see something(out object) only when light is falling onto it, we never realize
that object is flat surface.

I am not going in the details of Bezier curve or similar things. I thnk if one is interested in actual curve Bezier(or similar, of course) techniques are the only way
And with the help of Lighting we are making flat surfaces appear smooth.

Thanks
Sagar

How do you detect the curvature of a surface in real life? By either touching it, looking at it’s silhouette, or by seeing how it reflects light.

You can’t touch things in graphics. And the silhouette is always polygonal. So that leaves light reflection.