Rendering of 3D scenes on a display using hierarchical z-buffer visibility
US5579455A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 30, 1993 |
| Grant date | Nov 26, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 30, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/405
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A hierarchical Z-buffer scan-conversion algorithm that does well on both (a) quickly rejecting most of the hidden geometry in a model, and (b) exploiting the spatial and temporal coherence of the images being generated. The method uses two hierarchical data structures, an object-space octree and an image-space Z-pyramid, in order to accelerate scan conversion. The two hierarchical data structures make it possible to reject hidden geometry very rapidly while rendering visible geometry with the speed of scan conversion. For animation purposes, the algorithm is also able to exploit temporal coherence. The resulting method is well suited to models with high depth complexity, achieving significant speedup in some cases compared to ordinary scan conversion.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.