Patent · US Expired

Rendering method and apparatus

US6034691A · kind A · utility

46Cited by
3References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 29, 1997
Grant dateMar 7, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 29, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T15/10
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a real-time controllable reflection mapping function which covers all stereoscopic directions of space. More specifically, the surface of a mirrored object is segmented into a plurality of polygonal elements (for example, triangles). Then, a polyhedron, which includes a predetermined point (for example, the center of the mirrored object) in a three-dimensional space (for example, a cube) in the interior thereof, is generated and a rendering process is performed for each surface of the polyhedron with the predetermined point as a view point. The rendered image is stored. Thereafter, a reflection vector is calculated between each vertex of the polygonal elements and a view point used when the entire three-dimensional space is rendered. Next, the surface of the polyhedron, in which an intersecting point between the reflection vector with the predetermined point as a start point and the polyhedron exists, is obtained. The coordinate in the image, which corresponds to each vertex of the polygonal elements, is calculated by using the surface where the intersecting point exists and the reflection vector. The image is texture-mapped onto the surface of …

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