Method and apparatus for illuminating volume data in a rendering pipeline
US6342885B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 20, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jan 29, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 20, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/50
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus illuminates samples in a volume rendering pipeline. The apparatus includes the following units. A gradient magnitude modulation unit produces an opacity, emissive, diffuse and specular modulation factor from a gradient magnitude vector of each sample. A reflectance mapping unit produces a diffuse intensity and a specular intensity from the gradient magnitude vector of each sample and an eye vector of the volume. A first arithmetic logic unit combines an opacity of each sample with the corresponding opacity modulation factor to generate modulated opacities. A second arithmetic logic unit combines an emissive coefficient with the emissive modulation factor of each sample to generate modulated emissive coefficients. A third arithmetic logic unit combines the diffuse intensity with the diffuse modulation factor of each sample to generate modulated diffuse intensities. A fourth arithmetic logic unit combines the specular intensity with the specular modulation factor of each sample to generate modulated specular intensities, and a lighting unit applies the modulated emissive coefficient, modulated diffuse and specular intensities to color components of the samples to illumin…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.