Method and system for displaying a three dimensional object
US5537520A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 13, 1993 |
| Grant date | Jul 16, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 13, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/40
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and system for displaying a three-dimensional object without requiring depth sorting of polygons or z-buffer calculation. The three-dimensional space is divided into rectangular parallelepipeds and tetrahedrons. A determination of the depth order of the rectangular parallelepipeds and tetrahedrons is made based on a view vector. The rectangles and tetrahedrons are then processed in order of depth from the furthest from the view point to the nearest. As each tetrahedron is processed, geometric data of a polygon containing the iso-valued surface is determined, the intensity of illumination calculated and the polygon data transferred to the display apparatus for display. The method and system of the present invention avoid the need for large memories to store intermediate data.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.