Abstract: A system and method for use with a two-dimensional CAD system for rapidly applying surface detail, such as various patterns, to a 2-D image in a manner to provide a 3-D appearance. During a preprocessisng step, a 2-D image to which a perspective mesh has been applied, is scanned pixel-by-pixel and several tables are built of data derived from parameters of each pixel. The tables are used during a fast mapping step to apply pixels making up the surface detail or pattern very rapidly without compromising the visual appearance of the resulting image. One table is built of the two-dimensional offsets of image pixels from references in the mesh grid and is used to map to a pair of one-dimensional tables specific to a selected pattern array to select offset coordinates for mapping quickly to the appropriate pattern pixels.