Scribd
Upload
18 views

Computer Graphics 15: More Surface Detection Methods: Course Website

This document summarizes and compares different visible surface detection methods for computer graphics. It discusses the depth-sorting method, which sorts surfaces by depth and scans them in order. It also mentions other techniques like BSP trees, area subdivision, octrees, and ray casting. Finally, it compares the performance of different methods, noting that depth sorting and BSP trees perform best for few surfaces while depth buffering scales better for higher polygon counts.

Uploaded by

Anusha Vunnava
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views

Computer Graphics 15: More Surface Detection Methods: Course Website

This document summarizes and compares different visible surface detection methods for computer graphics. It discusses the depth-sorting method, which sorts surfaces by depth and scans them in order. It also mentions other techniques like BSP trees, area subdivision, octrees, and ray casting. Finally, it compares the performance of different methods, noting that depth sorting and BSP trees perform best for few surfaces while depth buffering scales better for higher polygon counts.

Uploaded by

Anusha Vunnava
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

Computer Graphics 15:

More Surface Detection Methods

Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee


2
of
11
Contents
Today we will continue to look at visible
surface detection methods:
– Depth-sorting method
– Other methods
We will also compare the different
techniques we have studied and suggest
when different techniques should be
employed
3
of
11
Depth-Sorting Method
A visible surface detection method that uses
both image-space and object-space
operations
Basically, the following two operations are
performed
– Surfaces are sorted in order of decreasing
depth
– Surfaces are scan-converted in order, starting
with the surface of greatest depth
The depth-sorting method is often also known
as the painter’s method
4
of
11
Depth-Sorting Method (cont…)
First, assume that we are viewing along the
z direction
All surfaces in the scene are ordered
according to the smallest z value on each
surface
The surface S at the end of the list is then
compared against all other surfaces to see if
there are any depth overlaps
If no overlaps occur then the surface is scan
converted as before and the process
repeats with the next surface
5
of
11
Depth Overlapping

z z
zmax zmax

S S
z’max
zmin S’
z’max zmin
S’

z’min z’min

x x
No Depth Overlap Depth Overlap
6
of
11
Depth-Sorting Method (cont…)
When there is depth overlap, we make the
following tests:
– The bounding rectangles for the two surfaces
do no overlap
– Surface S is completely behind the
overlapping surface relative to the viewing
position
– The overlapping surface is completely in front
of S realtive to the viewing position
– The boundary edge projections of the two
surfaces onto the view plane do not overlap
7
of
11
Depth-Sorting Method (cont…)
The tests are performed in the order listed
and as soon as one is true we move on to
the next surface
If all tests fail then we swap the orders of the
surfaces
8
of
11
Other Techniques
There are a number of other techniques all
based around are division
– BSP-Tree Method
– Area-Subdivision Method
– Octree Methods
Raycastig can also be used
9
of
11
Ray-Casting
10
of
Comparison Of Visibility-Detection
11 Methods
When few surfaces are present either the
depth sorting algorithm or the BSP tree
method tend to perform best
Scan-line also performs well in these
situations – up to a several thousand
polygon surfaces
The depth buffer method tends to scale
linearly, so that for low numbers of polygons
its performance is poor, but it is used for
higher numbers of polygons.
11
of
11
Summary
We need to make sure that we only draw
visible surfaces when rendering scenes

You might also like