Abstract: Methods, systems and data structures produce a rasterizer. A graphical state is detected on a machine architecture. The graphical state is used for assembling a shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selecting replacement logic that replaces portions of shell logic in the shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selectively inserting memory management logic into portions of the shell logic to produce.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of processing three-dimensional (3D) images on a multi-layer display may generate virtual depth information based on original depth information, and display 3D images having various depth values using the generated virtual depth information. Also, the apparatus and method may appropriately provide color information to each of a plurality of display layers, thereby preventing an original image from being damaged.

Abstract: A system, and method are provided for dithering depth values. The depth values include a plurality of first depth values associated with a first object and a plurality of second depth values associated with a second object. Additionally, the first depth values and the second depth values are stored in a depth map in a predetermined configuration. In addition, the predetermined configuration takes on a checkerboard pattern.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method for determining clipping distances are described. In one embodiment, a graphics processing apparatus includes a clipping unit and an instruction memory connected to the clipping unit. The instruction memory includes a clipping program to direct the clipping unit to perform clipping operations. The clipping program includes a clipping distance instruction to determine a clipping distance with respect to any of a set of clipping planes.

Abstract: The present invention is a system and method for modeling faces from images captured from a single or a plurality of image capturing systems at different times. The method first determines the demographics of the person being imaged. This demographic classification is then used to select an approximate three dimensional face model from a set of models. Using this initial model and properties of camera projection, the model is adjusted leading to a more accurate face model.

Abstract: A method of performing spatial binning of particles is described which can be performed on a graphics processing unit. A stencil buffer is primed with a pattern which controls the writing of data to a framebuffer. A first shader is used to calculate the co-ordinates of the bin in which a particle is located and a second shader is used to write the particle's ID to a location representative of that bin in the framebuffer. The pattern in the stencil buffer ensures that particle data within a bin is not overwritten and the stencil buffer also maintains a record of the number of entries within each bin.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for rendering a volumetric obscurant in a computer generated graphical image. The method can include the operation of defining a polygon template as a first surface of the volumetric obscurant comprising pixels and sub-pixels. A further operation can be spreading a depth of the sub-pixels for pixels in the polygon template to create a thickness in the volumetric obscurant. Finally, another operation can be modulating a depth density of the sub-pixels to vary the distances between the sub-pixels in the volumetric obscurant.

Abstract: A system that renders a three-dimensional model which contains semi-transparent surfaces. During operation, the system renders the semi-transparent surfaces in the three-dimensional model by performing the following operations iteratively for each semi-transparent surface in draw-order instead of depth-order: (1) rendering the semi-transparent surface to a Z buffer, (2) calculating a cumulative transparency value for each pixel of the semi transparent surface as a function of the transparency value for each opaque and semi-transparent surface that intersects the pixel and is in front of the Z-value for the pixel in the Z-buffer, (3) attenuating a surface color value for each pixel in the semi-transparent surface by the cumulative transparency value for the pixel, and (4) adding the attenuated surface color value to a corresponding pixel value in the image buffer.

Abstract: Methods and systems to determine view cell occlusion, including to project objects of a 3-dimensional graphics environment to a 2-dimensional image plane with respect to the view point, to reduce sizes of corresponding object images, to generate an occluder map from the reduced-size object images, to compare at least a portion of the object images to the occluder map, and to identify an object as occluded with respect to the view cell when pixel depth values of the object image are greater than corresponding pixel depth values of the occluder map. Methods and systems to reduce an object image size include methods and systems to nullify pixel depth values within a radius of an edge pixel, and to determine the radius as a distance from the edge pixel to a second pixel so that a line between the view point and the second pixel is parallel with one or more of a line and a plane that is tangential to a sphere enclosing the view cell and a point on the object that corresponds to the edge pixel.

Abstract: An efficient system and method for adaptive tile depth filter (ATDF) is disclosed. The key concept of this system and method is to consider more occlusion conditions in order to achieve a better performance of filter before the conventional Z test process in three dimensional graphics pipeline. Two occlusion criteria, Zmax and Zmin (depth range in a tile), are introduced first for occlusion and non-occlusion fragments in a tile. The points between Zmax and Zmin are in uncertain fragment which may need to go through the later Z test. Moreover, a new technique, coverage mask, can further filter the points in the uncertain fragment to a final uncertain fragment and non-occlusion fragment. Besides, the coverage mask can be used to efficiently decide which tile needs the further sub-tile depth filter.

Abstract: A three-dimensional object display apparatus includes a three-dimensional object generation section that generates a three-dimensional object by laying out a plurality of image data to surfaces of a solid. The three-dimensional object is made in a three-dimensional shape to be displayed on a display section. The three-dimensional object display apparatus also includes a selection operation section that enables a user to select a manner of presenting the plurality of image data to the user on the display section. The three-dimensional object display apparatus further includes a control section that switches, in response to the manner selected by the user, the three-dimensional shape of the three-dimensional object.

Abstract: An apparatus processes collision information in a graphic system, and includes a first storage unit for loading geometry information of primary and secondary object graphics inputted from outside, and outputting the geometry information of the primary object graphics and geometry information of a plurality of secondary object graphics in which a collision detection operation with the primary object graphics is to be performed; a transformer for transforming coordinates of the secondary object graphics to be coincided with a coordinate system that is based on the primary object graphics; a processor for acquiring a collision point, collision presence information, and a collision depth between the primary and the secondary object graphics simultaneously based on the geometry information of the inputted primary object graphics and that of each of the coordinate-transformed secondary object graphics by using a collision detection operation technique determined by the geometry information properties of the primary

Abstract: Polygon rendering systems for rendering a polygon in an image to be displayed include a rasterizer unit, a first memory buffer, and one or more additional memory buffers. The rasterizer unit is configured to generate one or more low resolution fragments representing a portion of the polygon at a low resolution and one or more high resolution fragments representing a portion of the polygon at one or more higher resolutions. The first memory buffer is configured to store the low resolution fragments as pixels. The first memory buffer is further configured to store data based on the one or more high resolution fragments. The one or more additional memory buffers are configured to store the high resolution fragments as high-resolution sub-pixels.

Abstract: At least two different processing sections in a graphics processors compute Z coordinates for a sample location from a compressed Z representation. The processors are designed to ensure that Z coordinates computed in any unit in the processor are identical. In one embodiment, the respective arithmetic circuits included in each processing section that computes Z coordinates are “bit-identical,” meaning that, for any input planar Z representation and coordinates, the output Z coordinates produced by the circuits are identical to each other.

Abstract: Subsets of volume data are sequentially stored for volume rendering from two dimensional textures. For example, pairs of adjacent two-dimensional images are loaded into RAM or cache. Strips of texture data are interpolated for polygons extending between the two-dimensional images. The strips or polygons are more orthogonal to a viewing direction than the two-dimensional images. After interpolating texture data from the two-dimensional images for a plurality of non-coplanar polygons, the texture data is rendered. The rendered information represents one portion of the three dimensional representation. Other portions are rendered by repeating the process for other pairs or subset groups of adjacent two-dimensional images. A lower cost apparatus, such as a programmed computer or a GPU with a limited amount of memory, is able to render images for three dimensional representations of very large three-dimensional arrays. The images may be rendered without copying volume data for different main axes.

Abstract: An image generation device includes a memory in which a burst length, which is the smallest unit of read/write processing, is large; and an image generation device in which processing efficiency at the time of a memory access does not decrease, even in the case of accessing a rendering buffer for rendering a polygon. Image data is stored in a rendering buffer in block units made up of plural pixels, and image data of pixels corresponding to the polygon is stored in a serial region of the rendering buffer. A valid pixel flag indicating that a valid pixel is present within the block is stored in the rendering information buffer. The rendering buffer is accessed as little as possible based on placement of the valid pixel flags within the block.

Abstract: When a plurality of coplanar shapes are rendered over one another by performing a hidden surface removal operation using the Z value, a reference plane is specified, and the Z value of each point of a shape to be rendered on the reference plane is uniquely calculated based on the Z value of the rendering start point, the Z value gradient dZdx for the X direction, and the Z value gradient dZdy for the Y direction. Thus, any coplanar shapes will have the same Z value for each point shared therebetween. Therefore, if the rendering process is performed under such a rule that a shape is overwritten when the Z value of the new shape is less than or equal to the current Z value, it is ensured that the previously-rendered shape is always overwritten with a later-rendered, coplanar shape. Thus, it is possible to prevent a phenomenon that some pixels of a later-rendered shape that are supposed to be displayed are not displayed.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer program for determining a simplified representation of an assembly model comprising the steps of saving a plurality of display states and configuration settings of an assembly model in a design representation; translating said design representation into a simplified representation by use of a visibility solution; and storing said simplified representation and said design representation in an assembly document and appropriate means and computer-readable instructions.

Abstract: A “Rational Z-Buffer” provides various techniques for reducing artifacts when rendering graphics using z-buffers. In particular, the Rational Z-Buffer reduces the likelihood of z-buffer collisions when using hardware or software z-buffer algorithms to render graphics by delaying homogenous division of pixels until after occlusion testing. Further, occlusion testing between any two pixels, p0 and p1, is accomplished by comparing rational depth values, r0={z0, w0} and r1={z1, w1}, for pixel p0 and p1 to determine which pixels are visible. Depth values are compared by determining whether the expression z0w1<z1w0 is true. If true, then pixel p0 occludes pixel p1 in clipping cube space relative to an image-plane defined by a particular viewpoint and the field of view.

Abstract: The rapid depth testing for hidden surface removal in graphics processing may be achieved by depth testing representative pixels of a group of pixels. In one embodiment, the worst case pixels of a group of pixels can be identified. The worst case pixels can then be compared to worst case values stored in a hierarchical Z-buffer. Depending on the results, the entire set of pixels of the group may pass or fail the depth test. As a result, in some cases, it is not necessary to depth test every pixel.

Abstract: An image signal composed of sequential frames is input to a 3-dimensional image creating apparatus, frame by frame. A controller (102) designates the presence/absence of reduction, the presence/absence of joining and 2D select. An image converter (101) creates image data in the format designated by the presence/absence of reduction and the presence/absence of joining. A 3D information creator (103) creates 3D information necessary for displaying the image as a 3-dimensional image by formatting the presence/absence of reduction, the presence/absence of joining and 2D select. A multiplexer (104) converts image data and 3D information in a predetermined format and outputs them to the outside. In this way, it is possible to make the image data for 3-dimensional display versatile and select an arbitrary viewpoint image efficiently.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for rendering images of digital objects or for preparing digital objects for subsequent processing. The method includes sorting data representative of the positions of at least three vertices of at least one polygon of a digital object, then determining whether the orientation of the vertices of each polygon from a specific reference point differs from the actual, or original, orientation of the vertices. Such a determination may be made by generating an orientation decision variable based on the relative positions of the vertices and calculating a cross product term (CPT) after the vertex data has been sorted. The CPT may also be used in other operations involving the polygon, such as in imparting appearance characteristics to the polygon. The method may be embodied as a computer program (i.e., software or firmware) that controls the operation of a processor.

Abstract: A culling data selection system and method are presented in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In one embodiment, an occlusion prediction graphics processing method is utilized to predict which pixels are eventually occluded before intermediate processing stages are performed on the pixels. Culling information utilized to predict which pixel are occluded is selected and compressed in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In one embodiment, cull data for a pixel culling area is retrieved and an end of pipe depth occlusion data associated with a prediction area within the pixel culling area is received. A selection metric for analyzing adjustments to cull data is established and a cull data adjustment decision is made based upon the selection metric. In one exemplary implementation the possible occlusion volumes associated with “old” culling data, “new” culling data (e.g.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of displaying a first image on a display device with a plurality of pixels assigns one of a plurality of sample patterns to each pixel on the display device. Each pixel is assigned the one of a plurality of patterns based upon its unique location on the display device. Each sample pattern has at least one sample location. It then is determined if the first image intersects any of the sample locations on each pixel. Pixels determined to have at least one sample location that intersect the first image thus are illuminated.

Abstract: A system (400) for generating training images for a pattern recognition classifier (54) from three-dimensional image data representing an output class comprises a model constructor (404) that constructs an image model in a standard coordinate domain from the three-dimensional image data. A model transformer (406) manipulates the image model in the standard coordinate domain to produce at least one manipulated image model. An image restorer (408) maps the at least one manipulated image model from the standard coordinate domain to a coordinate domain associated with an image source utilized during the run-time operation of the pattern recognition classifier.

Abstract: A data processing system including: a memory controller; and a memory connected to said memory controller; wherein said memory controller includes a rendering circuit thereby to execute a rendering command generating display data based on graphic data provided after processing a program in a CPU, and stores said display data in said memory.

Abstract: To provide an image processing device capable of simplifying a process for highlight expression. The present invention relates to an image processing device for displaying a picture obtained by viewing a virtual three dimensional space from a given viewpoint. According to the present invention, a first object (an inner surface object (50)) having a texture image (54) attached thereon is placed in the virtual three dimensional space (40), the texture image (54) including a highlight image portion (54a) for expressing highlights caused by light reflection.

Abstract: The present invention relates to computing reachable areas given a first point. More specifically, the present invention relates to the computation of an intersection between a first surface and a second surface for determining a set of points that are reachable from a first point. Using the present invention, a user can determine either (1) a locus of target sites that can be struck by a ballistic projectile from a given launch site, or (2) a locus of launch sites that can be used to hit a given target site. The disclosed system and method employs graphics hardware to determine an intersection between a first surface defined by trajectory paths, and a second surface defined by terrain.

Abstract: A method for rendering pixels for display includes generating stencil values on a per pixel basis for storage in stencil buffer memory; selecting a group of stencil values that represent a block of pixels; generating compressed stencil data associated with the group of stencil values; and performing stencil testing on a corresponding incoming block of pixels using the compressed stencil data.

Abstract: According to some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means are provided to set a first depth value associated with a plurality of pixels of a video image comprising a plurality of planes, create a first clear rectangle with respect to the first depth value, color render the pixels that are not associated with the first clear rectangle, and render the plurality of planes.

Abstract: A method is disclosed. The method includes receiving a first polygon, receiving a second polygon, calculating a vector joining a centroid of the first polygon and a centroid of the second polygon, retrieving vertices of each polygon that are farthest from the other polygon in the direction of the vector towards the other polygon, performing a view frustrum from each vertex retrieved for the first polygon to the centroid of the first polygon, performing a clipping operation on the second polygon and determining if the second polygon intersects the view frustrum of one or more of the vertices of the first polygon.

Abstract: In an image processing apparatus using a read buffer, in a case where access request target data is not stored in the read buffer, the read buffer is controlled such that data corresponding to a position having coordinates, which is most distant from a position having coordinates corresponding to the access request target data, is discarded or replaced. Consequently, the image processing apparatus increases the probability that data corresponding to a position close to a position corresponding to the access request target data remains in the read buffer. Accordingly, the hit rate of the read buffer is increased. Thus, the frequency of access to an external memory can be reduced.

Abstract: Provided is an apparatus and method for determining stereo disparity based on two-path dynamic programming and GGCP. The apparatus includes a pre-processing unit for analyzing texture distribution of an input image by using a Laplacian of Gaussian (LOG) filter and dividing the input image into a homogeneous region and a non-homogeneous region; a local matching unit for determining candidate disparities to be included in an each pixel of all pixels; a local post-processing unit for removing candidate disparities in a pixel of low reliability by performing a visibility test betweens candidate disparities in each pixel to improve the reliability of the candidate disparity; and a global optimizing unit for determining a final disparity for candidate disparities in an each pixel by performing a dynamic programming.

Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide a game system, program and image generating method which can generate a more realistic image with reduced processing load by using an alpha value set depending on a depth value. Z-value for each pixel in an original image is transformed into Z2-value that is formed of bits I to J which are positioned lower than the most significant bit in the Z-value. The alpha value for each pixel is set at a value corresponding to the Z2-value. Representation of the depth of field or fog image is enabled by using the alpha value to generate an image. The Z2-value is clamped to a given value depending on a bit value other than the bits I to J of the Z-value. Bits M to N and K to L (where K?I?L>M?J?N) in the Z-value are set as index numbers in LUT1 and LUT2 and used to perform texture mapping for transforming the Z-value into Z3- and Z4-values. These Z3- and Z4-values are used to determine the Z2-value.

Abstract: A method for display compositing is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating a plurality of respective color values and a plurality of respective blending values for a plurality of graphics pixels to be blended with a display picture, (B) examining in a sequence a plurality of neighboring pixels of the graphics pixels adjoining a current pixel of the graphics pixels, the current pixel having a current color value of the respective color values and a current blending value of the respective blending values and (C) replacing the current color value with the respective color value for a particular pixel of the neighboring pixels where (i) the respective blending value for the particular pixel comprises one of a plurality of non-transparent values and (ii) the current blending value comprises one of at least one transparent value.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for rendering three-dimensional scenes including transparent surfaces are described, including two techniques for efficient rendering of transparent surfaces that exploit partial ordering in the scene geometry. The first (hybrid layer peeling) may combine unordered meshes with ordered meshes in an efficient way, and may be well suited for rendering scenes such as volumes with embedded transparent meshes. The second (coherent layer peeling) may efficiently detect and render correctly sorted fragment sequences for a given pixel in one iteration, allowing for a smaller number of passes than traditional depth peeling. Pre-sorting and/or periodic sorting of some or all of the surfaces in a scene may be performed, but perfect sorting may not be required. The methods may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof, such as by program instructions executable on one or more CPUs and/or GPUs.

Abstract: A rendering apparatus and method are provided. The rendering method includes: reading a block, corresponding to a fragment, from among compressed blocks stored in a depth buffer, by considering frequency information corresponding to the fragment and prepared in advance; and performing a depth test for the fragment by considering the restored block.

Abstract: A method for a computer system includes determining first shading results associated with a geometric object in response to first shading computations and first shading data associated with the geometric object and associated with both a first scene and a second scene, determining second shading results associated with the geometric object in response to second shading computations and second shading data associated with the geometric object, and determining first combined shading results associated with the geometric object in response to the first shading results and to the second shading results, wherein the first combined shading results is associated with the second scene, wherein a second combined shading results is associated with the geometric object, wherein the second combined shading results is associated with the first scene, and wherein the second combined shading results is not determined in response to the second shading results.

Abstract: A computing system capable of parallelizing the operation of multiple graphics processing pipelines (GPPLs), and including one or more CPUs, in communication with a memory space, and a parallel graphics processing subsystem (PGPS) supporting an object-division mode of parallel operation including at least four stages, namely, decomposition, distribution, rendering and recomposition. The PGPS includes a plurality of graphic processing pipelines (GPPLs), wherein each GPPL includes a color frame buffer and Z depth buffer. Within each GPPL, a partial complementary-type color image of the 3D scene is rendered and buffered in its color frame buffer.

Abstract: A method of generating a stereoscopic image is disclosed. The method includes defining at least two, three or more regions in a scene representing a region of interest, a near regions and/or a far region. This is followed by forming an image pair for each region, this image pair containing the information relating to objects in or partially in their respective region. The perceived depth within the regions is altered to provide the ideai or best perceived depth within the region of interest and acceptable or more compressed perceived depths in the other regions. The image pairs are then mapped together to form a display image pair for viewing on a display device.

Abstract: A system is provided for visible surface determination in furtherance of photorealistic rendering in a computer graphics environment. The system includes a scene database and a processor, visual characteristics of objects of an image frame of a scene of the scene database are delimited as geometric primitive. The processor, for executing an interval analysis, to a user degree of certainty, accurately and deterministically ascertains a visible solution set of an area not exceeding a pixel dimension for a pixel of an array of pixels that form said image frame.

Abstract: Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices, and/or systems for video processing, such as for hidden surface removal or reduction, are described.

Abstract: A unified compression/decompression architecture is disclosed for reducing memory bandwidth requirements in 3D graphics processing applications. The techniques described erase several distinctions between a texture (compressed once, and decompressed many times), and buffers (compressed and decompressed repeatedly during rendering of an image). An exemplary method for processing graphics data according to one or more embodiments of the invention thus begins with the updating of one or more tiles of a first image array, which are then compressed, using a real-time buffer compression algorithm, to obtain compressed image array tiles. The compressed image array tiles are stored for subsequent use as a texture. During real-time rendering of a second image array, the compressed image array tiles are retrieved and decompressed using a decompression algorithm corresponding to the buffer compression algorithm.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating hierarchical depth culling characteristics includes determining a first minimum depth value and a first maximum depth value for a first graphical element. The graphical element may be a primitive. The first minimum depth value may be a minimum Z-plane depth of a pixel within the primitive and a first maximum depth value is a maximum Z-plane value for a pixel within the primitive. The method and apparatus further includes determining a second minimum depth value and a second maximum depth value for a second graphical element, which may be a tile. The method and apparatus further includes calculating an intersection depth range having an intersection minimum depth value and an intersection maximum depth value based on the intersection of the first minimum depth value and the first maximum depth value and the second minimum depth value and the second maximum depth value.

Abstract: A system includes a 3-D display device with a display screen, an addresser for addressing the 3-D screen, and a renderer having an input for a 3-D model and an input for at least one viewpoint for rendering image information for supply to the addresser. The renderer includes an initial part having an input for the 3-D model and for a main view point for rendering objects in the form of a main view point Z-stack. The Z-stack includes stack layers having RGB and Z-values. The renderer further includes a Z-stack constructor in which, from the main view point Z-stack generated by the initial stage, Z-stacks for additional viewpoints are constructed. An image information occlusion semantics stage is provided for generating image information from the Z-stacks.

Abstract: A system including a memory device that stores, in association with each of a plurality of areas obtained by dividing an input image, an feature amount of an object drawn in the area; a selection section that selects a range of the input image to be recognized by a user based on an instruction therefrom; a calculation section that reads the feature amount corresponding to each area contained in the selected range from the memory device, and calculates an index value based on each read feature amount; and a control section that controls a device which acts on an acoustic sense or a touch sense based on the calculated index value.

Abstract: Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that improve the automatic generation of near and far clipping planes for a 3D scene. The viewing frustum is intersected with the scene to determine the range of depth that a particular scene occupies in the viewing frustum. The ratio of the near clipping plane to far clipping plane is adjusted as appropriate to ensure a desired minimum level of Z-buffer precision is achieved. The clipping planes are set sufficiently far outside of the object bounds to prevent triangles which are parallel to the clip planes from being accidentally clipped. An API is provided to allow other programs to retrieve the near and far clipping plane values with the desired minimum Z-buffer precision for a particular scene without having to interact with the Z-buffer.

Abstract: A method and system for shading large volumetric data sets using partial derivatives computed in screen-space. The method and system provide a fast and efficient shading a large datasets. Screen space derivatives are computed efficiently by evaluating neighboring pixel information together. The method can be efficiently implemented using GPUs (graphics processing units) that provides some access to information about neighboring pixels using ddx and ddy fragment processing functions.

Abstract: A computer implemented method for creating a depth range buffer for supporting clipping geometries for ray-casting includes inputting image data, establishing a depth range buffer for specifying a start and an end point of each ray, computing a near depth of the image data corresponding to the start point of each ray, computing a far depth of the image data corresponding to the end point of each ray, clipping the volume by restricting ray-casting within the start and end points of the depth range buffer, and rendering a portion of the image data corresponding to the visible depth range.

Abstract: A simple model for an object to be processed is obtained, and Z-values and display coordinates of vertexes of the simple model from a predetermined viewpoint are calculated. A rectangular Z-area associated with the calculated display coordinates is detected, and an area of a predetermined size is generated based upon the detected Z-area while keeping a feature of the detected Z-area. A minimum value Z1MIN of the simple model is extracted. The minimum value Z1MIN of the simple model is compared with all of the Z-values within the generated area, which are stored in a Z-buffer at that time. If it is determined that the minimum value Z1MIN of the simple model is larger than the maximum value Z2MAX within the generated area, subsequent steps are skipped. Thus, processing of a real model can be avoided, which reduces the processing.