Abstract: A method for producing realistic shading of three-dimensional objects depicted in a graphics display system. Computationally efficient Gouraud shading is practiced in the rendering of images which routinely require Phong shading to obtain suitable realism. Gouraud shading is adaptively applied to polygon regions of preferably triangular shape at a granularity defined by heuristically derived relationships using surface normal vectors, incident light vectors and relative pixel separation information. When division of the base triangle is dictated, the methodology produces a mesh of polygons sized to be individually rendered with Gouraud shading yet provide Phong-like realism for the whole of the original polygon region.