Method, system, and computer program product for generating spatially varying effects in a digital image

A system for generating a digital image having spatially varying effects, comprising:

• means for selecting a source image having a plurality of pixels;
• means for generating a three-dimensional texture volume having spatially varying effects using said source image, said three-dimensional texture volume having a plurality of pixels, said three-dimensional texture volume comprising two or more image planes, said two or more image planes and said source image each being of equal dimensions;
• means for selecting a reference image having a plurality of pixels, wherein each of said plurality of pixels of said reference image acts as an index to said plurality of pixels of said three-dimensional texture volume;
• and
• means for generating a display image having spatially varying effects using said reference image and said three-dimensional texture volume.

A system, comprising:

• a texture memory;
• a processor that generates a three-dimensional texture volume having spatially varying effects representative of a source image at multiple levels of blurriness and stores said three-dimensional texture volume in memory, said three-dimensional texture volume comprising two or more image planes, where each of said image planes is of equal dimensions;
• and
• a graphics pipeline that generates a display image having spatially varying effects using a reference image and said three-dimensional texture volume stored in said texture memory.