Abstract: Three-dimensional scenes are portrayed from different viewpoints by morphing two-dimensional images. Various key views of a scene are stored, along with offset maps that identify the correspondence of pixels in adjacent stored images. When an intermediate view of the scene is to be presented, one or more stored views are interpolated through a morphing technique. Since the key views and their offset data are pre-stored, the morphing and presentation of new views can be carried out at interactive rates. By providing the ability to quickly compute many closely spaced views, the disclosed morphing technique also facilitates the rapid computation of soft shadows and motion blur in images.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for rendering textured spheres and spherical environment maps. The method of the present invention provides for real time rotation of a textured sphere and panning of the view into a spherical environment map, along multiple axes without the need for special rendering hardware. A two-level indexing scheme for accessing pixel data in a texture map, is used to identify shading values for pixels in a display window. The two-level indexing scheme is comprised of a screen look-up table and a parametric look-up table. The screen look-up table has the dimensions of the display window, whereas the parametric look-up table has the dimensions of the parametric spherical environment map (wherein the pixel addresses are rotated 90 degrees from the origin).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for rendering textured spheres and spherical environment maps. The method of the present invention provides for real time rotation of a textured sphere and panning of the view into a spherical environment map, along multiple axes without the need for special rendering hardware. A two-level indexing scheme for accessing pixel data in a texture map, is used to identify shading values for pixels in a display window. The two-level indexing scheme is comprised of a screen look-up table and a parametric look-up table. The screen look-up table has the dimensions of the display window, whereas the parametric look-up table has the dimensions of the parametric spherical environment map (wherein the pixel addresses are rotated 90 degrees from the origin).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating perspective views of a scene. With a viewing position at the center of to be cylindrical environment map, different views can be obtained by rotating the viewing direction either horizontally or vertically. The horizontal construction method of the present invention generally involves the steps of: determining the portion of the cylindrical map to be viewed; vertically interpolating pixel values in the portion of the cylindrical map to be viewed and mapping to a viewing plane; and displaying the viewing plane. The vertical construction method of the present invention generally involves the steps of: determining the portion of the cylindrical map to be viewed; vertically interpolating pixel values in the portion of the cylindrical map robe viewed and mapping to a vertical plane; horizontally interpolating pixel values in the vertical plane and mapping to the viewing plane; and displaying the viewing plane.