Fast Spheres
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Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association
Abstract
A new method for generating sphere-like images, using parabolic surfaces delimited by Bresenham s circle- generation algorithm, is presented. In many cases the resultant images are indistinguishable from spheres illuminated from a given single direction. The main form of the algorithm uses first and second integer differences to minimise computation and uses typically not more than one floating-point calculation per sphere. Two variants of the algorithm are given, one optimized for the special case of the light-source being behind the view-point, and one in which values are calculated for a z-buffer hidden-surface algorithm at the same time as the pixel values. The difference formulae can be exploited by differencing hardware or digital signal processors although very little arithmetic, typically five low-weight integer operations, including address calculation operations, is required per pixel on a conventional architecture.
Description
@article{10.1111:1467-8659.1230061,
journal = {Computer Graphics Forum},
title = {{Fast Spheres}},
author = {Patterson, John W.},
year = {1993},
publisher = {Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association},
ISSN = {1467-8659},
DOI = {10.1111/1467-8659.1230061}
}