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Abstract

The invention describes a method and system for use in occlusion culling of polygons in an interactive environment, such as a game. The invention employs a boundary box to simplify the testing of occludee polygons. Occluders and occludees are also transformed into non-interpenetrating, non-overlapping polygons. Winged-edges are employed to minimize a per occludee computational cost due to precision problems that may arise at non-overlapping edges. The invention then proceeds through an active edge list to identify edge discontinuities (e.g., where an edge is added or removed from the active edge list). Depth analysis is employed to determine whether an occluder occludes an occludee at the edge discontinuity. Moreover, the invention only performs depth analysis for those locations of a screen display where an occludee is determined to reside, thereby minimizing unnecessary computations.

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First Claim