Uniform density cube map rendering for spherical projections
AssigneeNVIDIA Corporation
InventorsAlexander Dunn, Mathias Schott, John Spitzer
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Abstract
A cube map is used for determining the appearance of a surface by means of a precomputed texture image. Embodiments of the present invention are drawn computer systems and methods for rendering a spherical projection as a cube map that mitigates non-uniform pixel density near the edges of the cube map to avoid artifacts and increase rendering performance.
Claims21
A computer implemented method comprising:
- dividing at least one cube face of a cube into a plurality of surfaces;
- assigning viewports to the plurality of surfaces;
- determining coordinates of vertexes of a spherical shape in world-space projected onto the plurality of surfaces;
- generating rendered views of the spherical shape projected onto the plurality of surfaces from perspectives of the viewports based at least on rendering the views using the coordinates, wherein the views comprise the vertexes;
- and
- generating a cube map based at least on expanding the rendered views into the at least one cube face, wherein the expanding comprises applying a transformation function to the rendered views of the spherical shape thereby increasing a uniformity of pixel density of the rendered views by adjusting world-space pixel sizes of pixels of the rendered views.
A computer system comprising:
- a memory operable for storing data and instructions of an application;
- a processor configured to execute the instructions for controlling rendering of three-dimensional (3D) environments;
- and
- a graphics processing unit communicatively coupled to the processor and the memory, wherein the graphics processing unit is configured to perform, responsive to the instructions, a method comprising:
- dividing at least one cube face of a cube into a plurality of surfaces;
- assigning viewports to the plurality of surfaces;
- determining coordinates of vertexes of a spherical shape in world-space projected onto the plurality of surfaces;
- generating rendered views of the spherical shape projected onto the plurality of surfaces from perspectives of the viewports based at least on rendering the views using the coordinates, wherein the views comprise the vertexes;
- and
- generating a cube map based at least on expanding the rendered views into the at least one cube face, wherein the expanding comprises applying a transformation function to the rendered views of the spherical shape thereby increasing a uniformity of pixel density of the rendered views by adjusting world-space pixel sizes of pixels of the rendered views.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of programmed instructions, which when executed by a processor in a computing device are operable to perform a method, the programmed instructions comprising:
- instructions to divide at least one cube face of a cube into a plurality of surfaces;
- instructions to assign viewports to the plurality of surfaces;
- instructions to determine coordinates of vertexes of a spherical shape in world-space projected onto the plurality of surfaces;
- instructions to generate rendered views of the spherical shape projected onto the plurality of surfaces from perspectives of the viewports based at least on rendering the views using the coordinates, wherein the views comprise the vertexes;
- and
- instructions to generate a cube map based at least on expanding the rendered views into the at least one cube face, wherein the expanding comprises applying a transformation function to the rendered views of the spherical shape thereby increasing a uniformity of pixel density of the rendered views by adjusting world-space pixel sizes of pixels of the rendered views.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.