Transform, clipping, and lighting (TCL) is a term used in computer graphics, generally used in the context of hardware acceleration. This is the combination of transform and lighting (T&L) and clipping. Transform is the task of converting spatial coordinates, which in this case involves moving three-dimensional objects in a virtual world and converting the coordinates to a two-dimensional view. Clipping means only drawing things that might be visible to the viewer. Lighting is the task of taking light objects in a virtual scene, and calculating the resulting colour of surrounding objects as the light falls upon them...
In modern 3D computer games with complex scenes and detailed lighting effects, the high number of points to be transformed and lit is a computationally intense process, which is why 3D graphics cards offer acceleration.
