Three-dimension graphics rendering apparatus and method therefor

Abstract

An apparatus and method for three-dimensional graphic rendering are implemented. For each vertex on a surface of a graphic to be rendered, the scalar product of the unit normal to the surface and a half vector (the vector bisecting an angle between a unit vector in a direction of observation, the “eye” vector and a unit vector in a direction of a light source, the “light vector”), is generated outside of a graphics engine. Additionally, a second scalar product, between the unit normal and the unit vector in the direction of the light source is generated. These scalar products are loaded into two predetermined components of the unit normal, and sent to the graphics engine in lieu of the corresponding values of the components of the unit normal. In the graphics engine, components of the light vector and the half vector are assigned respective predetermined values, wherein the calculation of the two scalar products by the graphics engine produces the correct results.

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