Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation

Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solutions LLC

Rockwell Collins, Inc.

Russell Joseph Urry

Harold Dee Gardiner

A circuit renders computer graphics for an electronic display. The circuit includes a frame buffer to store a primitive for each pixel of the display, the primitive for each pixel being output to the display. The circuit includes a processor for storing the primitives in the frame buffer based on input primitives. The processor receives an input primitive in the same group as a corresponding stored primitive, determines whether the input primitive is within a threshold distance from the stored primitive, determines which of the input primitive and stored primitive is closer in depth to an observer of the display when the input primitive and the stored primitive are not within the threshold distance, and outputs the closer primitive to the frame buffer. The processor determines whether the input primitive and stored primitive has a higher priority when within the threshold distance and outputs the primitive with the higher priority.

System and method for graphics rendering using a proximity test

A system and method is disclosed for resolving visual priority among coincident primitives for a computer graphics system. The method can include the operation of classifying primitives within a computer generated scene into an ordinary group and one or more coincident groups according to each primitive's visual depth set comprising a depth value, a group value, and a layer value. The primitives within the ordinary group can be rendered according to their depth value. The primitives within the same coincident group can be rendered according to their layer value.

System and method for resolving visual priority among coincident primitives

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.

Method for rendering volumetric obscurants

This invention relates generally to the field of computer graphics display, and more particularly to reducing the amount of time needed to render complex virtual scenes on a computer graphics display. This invention combines the advantages of the prior art methods of list priority and depth buffering (e.g. Z-buffering) with new simplified and enhanced full buffer processes. In one embodiment, a simplified full buffer arrangement enables the elimination of rendering primitives prior to pixel shading for regions of the screen which have previously been covered by closer primitives. Another embodiment provides for an enhanced full buffer that combines the coverage of a previously rendered primitive in a partial buffer and associates it with a current primitive to cover pixel arrays. This enhanced full buffer technique enables the use of higher order model primitives such as strips, fans and meshes, to increase the effectiveness of the full buffer by allowing more than one primitive to combine to fill a scanned pixel region on the screen.

System and method for reducing the rendering load for high depth complexity scenes on a computer graphics display

A method and apparatus for rendering a real-time synthetic environment on a computer display. A hidden surface removal technique is provided which combines an efficient pixel rendering architecture with a simplified modeling process. Specifically, the computer pixel graphics hardware processing load is balanced against a software geometric load to obtain optimum rendering performance by utilizing a 'full' buffer in combination with adaptations of the z-Buffer and priority-list algorithms.

Growing community of inventors

West Jordan, UT, United States of America

Russell Joseph Urry