Multipass graphics rendering method and apparatus with re-traverse flag
US5561752A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 3, 1995 |
| Grant date | Oct 1, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 3, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T2210/61
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A graphics rendering system allows an application program to make immediate or retained mode calls to render a model, without needing to know how many passes the renderer requires to complete the scene. The application program invokes the rendering subsystem and the rendering subsystem returns a re-traverse flag indicating whether the rendering of the model is complete. If the flag indicates that rendering is not yet complete, the application program again invokes the rendering subsystem. Calls to the rendering subsystem may be placed inside a loop in the application program, which repeats until the re-traverse flag indicates completion. When the re-traverse flag indicates that rendering is not yet complete, the application program repeats the same sequence of calls, thereby effectively re-traversing the model. Application program calls to the rendering system can also specify the renderer to use. In this manner, switching to a different renderer at any time during the building or editing of a model becomes a trivial task for the application program. Also, more than one renderer can be active simultaneously. The current state of rendering for each renderer is stored in a respective…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.