Direct rendering of textured height fields
US5579456A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 29, 1995 |
| Grant date | Nov 26, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 29, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/20
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
To create a dynamic textured display, images of textured height fields (elevation samples arrayed on a rectangular coordinate grid, as to represent a terrain) are rendered, the system performing an initial pass that re-samples the height-field data into a radial form and a subsequent pass using the radial data to create textured, shaded picture elements (pixels) for an instantaneous field of view. Thus, texturing, shading, blending and scan conversion complete the pixel processing to drive a display unit. The system is particularly applicable to the generation of dynamic perspective images of terrain. The process provides pixel-limited textural resolution in the final image with effective antialiasing of internal and horizontal silhouette edges.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.