Abstract: A computer-based system automates the production of so-called pass-images (or just “passes”) from data defining 3-D scenes. For example, a beauty pass of a selected object shows the normal surface appearance without any background or other objects. A shadow pass shows only selected shadows and a highlight pass, only selected highlights. The passes allow pixel-processing to be done efficiently. The processed passes can then be combined (“composited”) to form the finished image. In the past, these passes were produced by editing a copy of the 3-D scene for each pass and rendering the edited copy. The invention automates the production of passes by filtering the 3-D scene through pre-specified pass definitions that override properties of the 3-D scenes. The results of filtering are rendered (rendering largely comprises the process of ray-tracing) to form the passes. The system stores numerous pass definitions.

Abstract: An authoring system provides a realistic rendering that may be updated and displayed continuously while simultaneously allowing full access to all authoring tools. The system is an enhancement to an authoring environment for 3D modeling. The rendering is incorporated in the authoring environment in a way that avoids conflicting with the abstract images and tools useful for working with 3D models such as would obtain in a WYSIWYG implementation. The computational burden of rendering is handled by rendering in an asynchronous parallel thread with respect to that supporting the authoring UI. The number of pixels that must be ray-traced is reduced by several mechanisms including: limiting the number of objects, limiting the resolution of the display, tailoring the size of the field-of-view window (while providing orientation context by placing the rendering on top of a wire-frame view). Also, only portions of the scene that are affected in a visible way by updates are re-rendered.