Visibility determination in 3D graphics rendering

摘要

A method and apparatus provided for rendering three-dimensional computer graphic images which include both translucent and opaque objects. A list of objects which may be visible in the image is determined and for each pixel in the image a determination is made as to whether or not an object for the list may be visible at that pixel. A data tag is stored for a transparent object determined to be visible at a pixel and the tag and object data are passed to a texturing and shading unit when a translucent object is determined to be overwriting the location in the tag buffer already occupied by another data tag.