System, method, and computer program product for blending textures during rendering of a computer generated image using a single texture as a mask

A system for blending a variable number of textures during rendering of a computer generated image, comprising:

• means for extracting at least a first mask and a second mask from a first texture by applying scale and bias operations to the first texture;
• means for blending a second texture and a third texture in accordance with the first mask to form a first image;
• and
• means for blending the first image and a fourth texture in accordance with the second mask to form a second image.

A computer program product for blending a variable number of textures during rendering of a computer generated image, said computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for controlling a processor, said computer program logic comprising:

• a procedure that extracts at least a first mask and a second mask from a first texture by applying scale and bias operations to the first texture;
• a procedure that blends a second texture and a third texture in accordance with the first mask to form a first image;
• and
• a procedure that blend the first image and a fourth texture in accordance with the second mask to form a second image.

A method for blending a variable number of textures during rendering of a computer generated image, the method comprising the steps of:

• (1) extracting N−2 masks from a first texture of N textures, wherein N is a number equal to at least four;
• (2) blending a second texture and a third texture of the N textures in accordance with one of the N−2 masks to form a blended image;
• (3) blending another texture of the N textures with the blended image in accordance with another one of the N−2 masks;
• and
• (4) repeating step (3) until all of the N textures, except for the first texture, have been blended together.

A method for blending a variable number of textures during rendering of a computer generated image, the method comprising the steps of:

• (1) extracting at least a first mask, a second mask, and a third mask from a first texture;
• (2) multiplying a second texture by the first mask to form a first image;
• (3) multiplying a third texture by the second mask to form a second image;
• (4) multiplying a fourth texture by the third mask to form a third image;
• and
• (5) adding at least the first image, the second image, and the third image to form a blended image.