System and method for using indirect texturing to efficiently simulate and image surface coatings and other effects

摘要

Water surface and other effects are efficiently simulated to provide real time or near real time imaging on low-capacity computer graphics computation platforms. Water and other surfaces are modeled using multiple independent layers can be dynamically adjusted in response to real time events. The number of layers used in a given area can be adjusted to reduce computational loading as needed. Different algorithms can be employed on different layers to give different effects. The multiple layer modeling is preferably converted to polygons using an adaptive polygon mesh generator based on camera location and direction in the 3D world to provide automatic level of detailing and generating a minimal number of polygons. The visual effects of water droplets and other coatings on see-through surfaces can be modeled and provided using indirect texturing.

主权项

1. A system comprising:
a texture memory that stores (a) a first texture map comprising a first set of texels providing difference offsets modelling distortion, and (b) a second texture map comprising a second set of texels representing an image; a texture mapper that accesses the first set of texels of the first texture map in a first texture mapping operation, and uses the accessed first set of texels as texture coordinates to access the second set of texels of the second texture map in a second, subsequent texture mapping operation that texture-maps the image represented by the second set of texels of the second texture map; and an output circuit that outputs the texture-mapped image for display.