Apparatus for and method of enhancing shape perception with parametric texture maps
US6654013B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 17, 2000 |
| Grant date | Nov 25, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 17, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/50
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A graphics system that enhances shape perception. The presently preferred embodiment of the system utilizes the mathematical machinery of parametric texture maps. In general, parametric texture maps allow the graphics system to render surface features of a 3D object in a manner that is direction dependent but without the time consuming and expensive calculations involved in the evaluation of lighting equations on a per pixel basis. A parametric texture map holds a set of parameters that define a surface structure in a manner in which the appearance of the surface structure varies in response to a direction vector. The direction vector may be any user-defined vector including a light source vector or a half-angle vector. The parameters are those of a predetermined equation, the evaluation of which does not involve vector calculations. The equation may take any form including a polynomial equation or a non-polynomial equation. The graphic system renders a polygon with the surface structure using the equation.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.