Patent · US Expired

Method for adaptively providing near Phong grade shading for patterns in a graphics display system

US5163126A · kind A · utility

82Cited by
5References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 10, 1990
Grant dateNov 10, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 10, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T15/87
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method for producing realistic shading of three-dimensional objects depicted in a graphics display system. Computationally efficient Gouraud shading is practiced in the rendering of images which routinely require Phong shading to obtain suitable realism. Gouraud shading is adaptively applied to polygon regions of preferably triangular shape at a granularity defined by heuristically derived relationships using surface normal vectors, incident light vectors and relative pixel separation information. When division of the base triangle is dictated, the methodology produces a mesh of polygons sized to be individually rendered with Gouraud shading yet provide Phong-like realism for the whole of the original polygon region.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.