Visibility splatting and image reconstruction for surface elements

A method for projecting surface points of a graphic object onto pixels in a depth buffer to determine depth values of the pixels, comprising the steps of:

• projecting each surface point onto a corresponding pixel of a depth buffer, each surface point having object space coordinates and an image space resolution and each pixel having image space coordinates and an image space resolution;
• storing a depth value of each projected surface point in the pixel only if the depth value of the projected surface point is less than the depth value of the pixel;
• constructing a tangential disk at a position of the surface point, the tangential disk having a radius larger than a maximum distance between the surface points;
• projecting the tangential disk onto a corresponding subset of the pixels;
• and
• storing depth values of the projected tangential disk in the corresponding subset of pixels only if the depth values of the projected tangential disk are less than the depth values of the corresponding subset of pixels.