Texture mapping

Texture mapping is like a way to wrap pictures around objects. Imagine wrapping a present with wrapping paper and then drawing on the wrapping paper. The wrapping paper is like the object and the drawing is like the picture. Texture mapping is the same concept, but for computer-generated objects instead of physical ones. A programmer will make a 3D object in a computer, and then the programmer can wrap a 2D image of their choice around the 3D object. That image will be the texture, and the 3D object will look like it has the texture and all of the other details that a 2D image can provide. It's like painting a 3D object, except it's done with a computer instead of with a brush.