Abstract: A computer games apparatus includes a server operable under the control of a computer program to generate and store data defining a 3D game environment. Objects within that environment can be moved and/or changed in response to signals received by the server from player terminals. Those signals may be transmitted via the Internet and/or other networks. The server renders the object data into data defining one or more views of the 3D environment, which data can then be processed into a broadcastable form for receipt by a plurality of observers. The performance of the apparatus is unaffected by the number of observers actually in receipt of the broadcast data.

Abstract: Apparatus for image processing which consists of a display (1) and controller (2), a CPU (3) connected to accept user instructions from a mouse (4), an image processor (5) arranged to process image data and a memory (6) for storing image (and other data). A user can specify a sequence of image processing operations on the display (1) using the mouse (4), and interactively modify the sequence depending on the displayed image. The apparatus operates three independent routines ("virtual machines"); a user interface routine accepting instructions and updating the screen display; a sequence evaluation routine constructing a table (20) representing the sequence graph, and evaluating the table (20) to generate corresponding image processing instructions for the image processor (5); and the image processing routine executing specified image processing operations and storing the result in the memory (6) to be accessed for display. Evaluation only occurs after an output is required.

Abstract: To effect hidden surface removal, polygons making up a three dimensional object are initially ordered using a Topological Sort into, for example, three rendering order lists corresponding to orthogonal axis. When the object is to be represented from a given view direction, the view direction is compared to the axis and the rendering list corresponding to the closest match is selected. Polygons are then rendered in list order, backward facing polygons being omitted. Performing the ordering at the polygon level, in an initial step, saves computation and consequently enables the projection and rendering processes to be speeded up to provide real time interactive three dimensional graphics. The Topological Sorting process is particularly computationally effective.