A software processor developed at RPI adds color-shaded imaging

capability to 3-D geometric modeling systems, greatly enhancing

their usefulness in industrial design applications.

Toward Fast Color-Shaded Images

of CAD/CAM Geometry

Paolo Sabella and Michael J. Wozny

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The growing demand for advanced 3-D geometric
modeling capabilities in mechanical CAD/CAM systems
stems from the need to attack complex design more
directly and automatically. One aspect of this need is a
more user-friendly interface.
It is becoming increasingly clear that an effective
human-computer interface for handling complex 3-D
geometry must include a color-shaded image capability
in addition to a highly interactive line-drawing capabili-
ty. Just about all of the CAD/CAM vendors have taken
the first step and offer a color line-drawing capability.
Although only a few vendors are addressing the problem
of generating and manipulating realistic-looking, 3-D,
color-shaded geometry today, this capability will hit the
commercial market in the not too distant future.
This article describes a software processor for render-
ing high-quality, color-shaded "snapshots" directly and
rapidly from commercial 3-D CAD/CAM systems. Fast
rendering is obtained through speed enhancement in the
vector-to-raster scan conversion algorithm and through
the use of new IBM hardware (DACU), which allows,
among other things, graphic devices to be connected
directly to an IBM mainframe channel.
Importance of color-shaded images
This section describes several industrial applications
where color-shaded images are useful. Although several
geometric models were originally created by the in-
dustrial sponsors of the RPI research program, all im-
ages with the exception of Figure 7 were computed at
RPI using the software processor discussed here. The
hardware complement used for this work is described in surface is important, it is often necessary to ascertain the
Appendix A. presence and nature of surface features such as regions of
Assemblies. Complex mechanical assemblies, especial-
ly those which consist of densely packed subassemblies,
represent a natural application area of solid geometry
modeling, because the assembly-related issues such as fit-
ting components together, or checking interferences, or
lining up holes are basically all volumetric in nature.
Solid models of real assemblies generally consist of hun-
dreds of individual primitives, making visualization ex-
tremely difficult on a line-drawing system, even with the
hidden lines removed.
Consider, for example, the solid geometry model of
the power supply assembly shown in Figure 1.1 Although
this model consists of only 114 primitives, it is essentially
incomprehensible when all edges of all the primitives are
displayed (Figure la), discernible with the hidden lines
removed (Figure lb), and easily understood in the color-
shaded form (Figure lc). In this case the CPU time need-
ed to calculate the hidden-line images was approximately
10 times longer than that required to compute the color-
shaded, hidden-surface image, assuming in both cases
that all Boolean operations had previously been com-
pleted and a boundary file computed. Of course, such a
calculation is very dependent on the algorithms used and
on the complexity of the model (4000 polygons in the
above case). But the fact remains that fast color-shaded
algorithms can provide useful results on real models in a
reasonable time.
Color-shaded rendering of solid and surface geometry
is also very useful in industrial design applications such
as the evaluation of new product mock-ups for aesthetic
appeal.
Surface features. In applications where the shape of a

60 0272-1716/83/1100-0060501.00 © 1983 IEEE IEEE CG&A

 undesirable curvature (creases or flat areas) and silhou-
ette edges. In renderings on vector displays, the number
of vectors drawn is generally kept to a minimum to avoid
flicker and/or clutter on the display. Thus, unusual
features are not usually apparent to the designer.
Figure 2 shows a surface in which undesirable wrinkles
are present. The wireframe representation hides the true
shape of the surface, while the color-shaded representa-
tion clearly shows the surface structure inside the bound-
ary. True, one can always examine the internal surface
shape in wireframe by adding more vectors, but the im-
age becomes very cluttered, making the nature of the
shape hard to understand. Furthermore, it is not always
apparent from a first look at a wireframe image that
more detail will reveal possible problems.
Figure 3 depicts adjacent surface patches with a slope
discontinuity along the common boundary. Again, this
mistake could easily be missed in the complex wireframe
representation, while the color-shaded image actually ac-
centuates the feature.
Color-shaded representations also allow the user to
determine easily if all the surface patches necessary to
completely define the part have been created. The

(a)

Figure 1. Power supply assembly model displayed with

all edges shown (a), with hidden lines removed (b), and in Figure 2. Wrinkled surface: vector rendering (a); raster
color-shaded raster form (c). rendering (b).

November 1983 61
 wireframe bulkhead in Figure 4a has one ruled surface
not defined, which is very evident in Figure 4b.
To examine surface features, one needs proper
highlighting and reflections. One can draw an analogy to
looking down the fender of a used car to determine if the
car has ever been involved in an accident. The Klein bot-
tle in Figure 5 has sufficient highlights to impart a clear
understanding of the surface shape. For engineering pur-
poses, it is the location of the resulting highlight on the
surfaces that is important, and not the location of the
light sources themselves. Yet most systems do the op-
posite-i.e., they force the engineer to position the light
sources first, and then determine if the resulting high-
lights show off the desired surface properties.
Software processor architecture
Figure 6 outlines the information flow necessary to
render a color-shaded image of CAD geometry. The first
step is to extract the geometry from a CAD system. Next,
the geometry is approximated with a polygonal-model,
and then color and lighting attributes of the final image
(a)
Figure 3. Wheels: vector rendering (a); raster rendering
(b)-
62
are added. For each pixel, the scan conversion module
determines which of the overlapping surfaces is visible
and its color.
Color and illumination attributes
In a color raster environment, a user must specify
display parameters never used in a vector system. These
are the background color, the color and position of the
light sources, and the illumination attributes associated
with surfaces.
The illumination attributes consist of a color for the
diffused reflection, a color for the specular reflection,
and a parameter describing the angular spread of the
reflection. Defining a color depends on the reflectance
model used. It can range in complexity from specifying
simply the red, green, and blue components of the color,
to inputting the entire reflectance spectrum as a function
of incidence angle (a three-dimensional graph).2 The
shading scheme used in the RPI processor requires 10 in-
put parameters. The RGB values range from 0 to 1 and
can be arrived at interactively by a mixing procedure.3
(a) 02//f0
Figure 4. An N/C part (bulkhead): vector rendering (a);
raster rendering (b).
IEEE CG&A
(For scan-line-rendering algorithms, the illumination
model consists of reflection parameters. Ray-tracing
algorithms, on the other hand, allow additional parame-
ters to be defined, such as the amount of light re-
flected-i.e., mirror reflection-the amount of light
transmitted, and the index of refraction.)
A specific combination of illumination attributes is
called a display type. Once a combination has been deter-
mined, it can be archived and referred to by a name such
as "blue plastic" or "dark copper" much like the use of
a name such as "dashed" or "dotted" for a line type in a
vector environment.
To simplify the rendering of a model, one can specify a
default display type for all surfaces, a default position for
the light sources, and a default background color. How-
ever, to take full advantage of the color "snapshot," the
user needs the ability to selectively assign display types
within the model and to add, remove, and position light
sources.
Accessing geometry
The RPI software processor is used for rendering sur-
faces and solids that have boundary representations. For
solids defined in terms of a CSG (constructive solid
geometry) tree, a boundary representation would have to
be computed. This capability generally exists in CSG
modelers for NC machining and display.4 (Atherton5
and Edwards6 present rendering techniques that work
directly on CSG trees.)
Many commercial CAD/CAM packages provide in-
terface capabilities that allow external programs to ac-
cess the system's geometric database. The information
that must be extracted for the color rendering consists of
the following.
Geometry-defining data. The data defining geometry
have to be put into the form expected as input in the
Figure 5. Klein bottle.
November 1983
polygonal approximation module. Examples of data
needed to approximate surfaces and solids are given in
the next section, "Polygonal approximation."
Display type associativities. Each entity has to be
associated with a display type. Since there are usually
many more entities than display types, it is unnecessary
(and inconvenient) to require the user to specify a display
type for each entity. Instead, all entities are given a
default display type, which the user overrides by using
the set or group facility of the geometry database.
In addition to grouping entities for the convenience of
specifying display types, the set or group facility can be
used to store the display type associativities. For exam-
ple, if the group name is an alphanumeric string, the
string itself can spell the name of the display type, such as
''copper" or "steel."
View definition. In order to render the model in the
same position as it appears on the vector screen, it is
necessary to retrieve the view transformation and
perspective data being used by the display routines of the
CAD system. If this information is not available, then
the view must be specified by the user or a default view
chosen.
The geometry access module can reside within the
CAD system if one wishes to have the same scene on both
the vector and raster displays. While not essential, it may
be desirable to take advantage of existing menu
capabilities by placing the color attribute model within
the CAD system. The polygonal approximation and scan
conversion models can be separate tasks, preferably in
specialized hardware. This makes it possible to continue
designing on the CAD system while the image is being
computed.
At RPI, a raster capability has been integrated in-
dependently into two CAD modeling systems. In the case
of the solid modeler GDP,1 menus were added to guide
the user through every desired scenario for creating and
RASTER
IMAGE
Figure 6. System information flow.
63
 assigning display types, as well as positioning the light
source. The scan conversion and shading module (see
"Raster4K rendering algorithm" below) was integrated
directly into the display driver.
In the case of NCAD,7 a surface modeler, the display
type was associated with the geometry via the existing
group entity, by using the characters 'C' at the begin-
ning of the group name. The rest of the group name con-
tains the 10 parameters defining the diffused and
specular colors. Similarly, light sources are lines in the
database placed in a group with '*L' at the beginning of
the group name. The rest of the name is the RGB color
and intensity of the light.
With this naming convention, only one routine was
added to NCAD; it accesses the database and writes to a
file the surface geometry, the corresponding display
types, the viewpoint, and the light sources. This routine
performs the functions of a geometry access and a color
attribute module. The polygonal approximation module
and scan converter reside in a separate task, which reads
in the file and produces the raster image, freeing the
CAD system while the image is being computed. It also
permits the user to input other display information, such
as the screen format, background color, ambient reflec-
tance component, and the resolution desired on output,
if defaults for these are not desired.
Polygonal approximation
This step could be avoided with a scan conversion
routine that can simultaneously render entities from each
class of geometry used in the CAD/CAM system. For the
RPI processor, however, a scan conversion routine that
displays polygonal surfaces was chosen on the basis of
the following criteria:
* simplicity-to facilitate the development of the
Raster4K technique (see below);
* robustness-numerical techniques such as those
described by Lane et al.8 are not guaranteed to con-
verge on complicated surfaces;
* efficiency-all operations can be converted to fixed-
point arithmetic for performance gains (this was not
done in the present implementation).
The curved geometry of existing modelers can readily
be approximated by polygonal tiles. As is well-known,
one can generate a smooth shaded image that does not
have the appearance of faceted edges simply by using, for
example, normal vector interpolation in the shading
algorithm and sufficiently small polygons properly
placed on a surface.9
Other functions performed by the polygonal approx-
imation module are the transformation of the geometry
into the screen coordinate system and the triangulation
of the polygons.
Curved surfaces. Parametrically defined surfaces can
be naively approximated by samples spaced evenly within
the parameter domain. This, however, leads to over-
sampling of flat regions and small objects, while areas of
high curvature appear faceted. A recursive subdivision
technique, which subdivides the surface based on cur-
64
vature criteria, overcomes these difficulties. For tensor
product surfaces, Lane et al.8"0 give a technique for sub-
dividing the surface based on tolerances of planarity of
the surface and curvature of the edges.
The subdivision algorithm performs operations on the
coefficient matrix of surfaces defined in terms of basis
functions that are the Bernstein polynomials."' Other
common basis functions can be easily converted to the
Bernstein basis. For example, if the bicubic surfaces are
expressed in terms of the power basis, i.e., by the
4 x 4 x 3 matrix P,
X(u,v) = [u3 u2ul]P [u] =ju4Pju
u2
where u = [u3u2ulJandi = [v3 v2vlJ,
then the geometry access module implicitly converts the
basis functions into Bernstein polynomials via the 4 x 4
transformation M,
iii = uM, `I = uiM
where
-3 3 I
M = 0 0 3
3
3 -6 3
O O O
_3
The resulting transformed representation is
X(u,v) = -MM- P(MT)-IMTjiT
= uAiBvT,
where
B = M-IP(MT)-1.
The resulting matrix B contains the coefficients needed
by the polygonal approximation module, namely the ver-
tices of the control polyhedron surrounding the surface.
The Lane-Carpenter subdivision scheme was used in
the approximation algorithm implemented for bicubic
surfaces in CATIA (a geometric modeler written by
Dassault Aircraft in France and marketed in the US by
IBM) and for the rational bicubics in NCAD. For ra-
tionals the coefficient matrix is 4 x 4 x 4, and entries cor-
responding to the control polyhedron vertices must first
be projected into Euclidean 3-space before a planarity
test such as the one described by Lane and Carpenterl' is
performed.
Appendix B explains the subdivision process in more
detail and gives a method for filling in the surface cracks
that appear when adjacent portions of the underlying uv
domain are subdivided to different levels.
Polyhedral solids. Polyhedral solid models are already
bounded by planar facets. If some facets are originally
derived from curved surfaces, it is necessary to have a
normal vector associated with each vertex on those
facets. The normals are used later to perform smooth
shading across the facet, giving the appearance of a
curved surface. Ifthe normal to the actual curved surface
is not available, then it can be approximated by averag-
ing the normals of all facets sharing the vertex. Care must
be taken not to average in facets actually belonging to
IEEE CG&A
flat surfaces that happen to be adjacent to a curved sur-
face approximation. Otherwise the result will be shading,
giving the appearance of curved surfaces even where the
solid is flat.
Thus, the data needed from the geometry access mod-
ule is a list of faces, each containing one or more bound-
ary curves, as well as one bit of information per face in-
dicating whether it is a curved approximation. Each
boundary curve is a list of vertices.
Scan conversion
The generation of a raster image consists of computing
a color value for each pixel on the display. The quality of
the image is directly proportional to the amount of com-
putation performed for each pixel. Thus, on a scale of
image quality, low-interactivity techniques lie at the high
end, and high-interactivity techniques lie at the low end.
Ray tracing. The technique best known for high-
quality rendering is called ray tracing,6"2 which gener-
ates an image by back-tracking the light rays emerging
from each pixel. This produces a highly realistic image
since shadows and reflections can be displayed. How-
ever, image generation can take a large amount of CPU
time because the intersection of a line with a surface has
to be computed many times for each pixel. Computation
times on the order of several hours to tens of hours are
common for ray-traced images. Figure 7 displays a ray-
traced rendering of a sphere and a cylinder on a shiny
surface. This image took 1½/2 hours to compute on an
IBM 4341 11 computer, under CMS with eight megabytes
of memory.
Faster rendering. There are a number of well-estab-
lished, raster rendering techniques, such as the z-buffer,
the list priority, the scan-line, and the Warnock algo-
rithms.13 These algorithms all take advantage of some
form of coherence in the scene. That is, they use the
results of a previous calculation as an aid in the current
calculation.
They are known as hidden-surface algorithms, since
Figure 7. Ray-traced Image of sphere and cylinder.
November 1983
the most important problem to be solved for generating
an image is to determine at each pixel which surfaces are
visible. Once the visible-surfaces are known, each surface
is shaded independently. As a result, shadows and
reflections are not handled. (By computing the scene
from the viewpoint of each light source, shadows can be
created as black surfaces,14 but this is a preprocessing
step and not in the image generation itself.)
Figure 8 is a rendering of the scene in Figure 7 by a
scan-line algorithm. Note that a smooth reflective sur-
face such as the cylinder in Figure 7 is perceived only by
means of reflections from other objects in the scene. The
shading schemes used in techniques other than ray trac-
ing can model at best the scattered reflections found on
rough surfaces-i.e., specular reflections.
Even though these algorithms are much faster than ray
tracing, at present they still take several minutes for
reasonable-quality images (see Table 1).
Special-purpose hardware. The image-generation time
can be greatly reduced by the use of special-purpose
hardware. It is reasonable to expect that raster image
generation can be delegated to the display device just as
vector image generation can. Several systems are already
available; for example, the Evans & Sutherland CT-5
Simulator can render around 30 frames a second. Others
more appropriate for mechanical design include the Lex-
idata Solidview, the Cubic Systems CS-3, and the Adage
3000. None of these do ray tracing, but they can generate
a scene in seconds. They achieve this speed over a host
computer by eliminating the wait on page faults and by
using microcoded programs on special-purpose hard-
ware.
Raster4K rendering algorithm
The Raster4K rendering algorithm was designed to
generate reasonably high-quality images for use in
mechanical design. In determining how much quality is
necessary, one must consider the fact that in a design en-
vironment speed is of utmost importance. However, the
Figure 8. Objects in Figure 7 rendered by scan-line
algorithm.
65
 inherent limitation of relatively low resolution must also computed. The algorithm ceases to consider the polygon
be taken into account. The guiding criterion for the when the lowest vertex is encountered. For details on par-
development of Raster4K was to minimize low-resolu- ticular implementations of scan-line algorithms, see
tion artifacts such as aliasing (staircasing) and Mach Sutherland et al.'3 The technique used to obtain high
banding, which tends to hide details, while simultaneous- resolution is described next.
ly keeping down the response time. Thus, a ray-tracing The input to the algorithm is in the form of polygons,
technique was not chosen for this application because which must be broken up into triangles. This incurs the
shadows and reflections are too expensive in computa- additional costs of triangulating and storing the triangles
tion for the next gain in engineering information. and processing more edges. On the other hand, using tri-
Raster4K uses a look-up table technique for perform- angles simplifies the method, eliminates sorting in X to
ing antialiasing, typically up to a resolution of 4K x 4K insert a span, and gives shading independent of orienta-
on a 512 x 512 display. It is essentially a discrete version tion of the object. '7
of Catmull's algorithm,15 which weights the color of a
pixel by the area of each edge covering it. (Although the Initialization. Starting with triangles transformed into
ideas were obtained independently, a recently published the image coordinate system and lying within the window
paper by Fiume et al.16 presents a similar approach.) Npix by Npix, one performs a bucket sort'8 on the peak
vertex of each triangle by inserting each triangle into a
Description of algorithm. For the purposes of this arti- linked list. There is one list for each scan line (see Figure
cle, a scan line is defined as a horizontal row of pixels, 9). The array of lists is called the Y-bucket.
and the scan conversion process proceeds from top to In the next preprocessing step, one computes the look-
bottom. A scan-line algorithm solves the hidden-surface up tables to be used for antialiasing. These are called the
problem one scan line at a time, taking advantage of mask tables. A mask is an 8 x 8 array of subpixels used to
coherence of edges from one scan line to the next. For ex- represent edges within a pixel. There are two types: filled
ample, in order to scan-convert a convex polygon, the
algorithm encounters the peak vertex first. On each
subsequent scan line, the polygon can be filled in be-
tween the left and right edges, which are incrementally
(a)

Yi
J LIST OF
TRIANGLES
WITH PEAK
VERTICES AT Yi

/ DIRECTION
. OF EDGE
S (b)
S

Y
SE _SE
___xxi.7,/~~~

- WE X W m
NPIX
ENTRIES
IEEEEEA
Figure 9. Y-bucket data structure. Figure 10. Filled mask (a); line mask (b).

66 IEEE CG&A
masks and line masks. A filled mask is a 64-bit word con-
taining all bits set when a left edge crosses the pixel (see
Figure 10a). The corresponding filled mask for a right
edge is obtained by taking the complement of the filled
mask for a left edge.
A line mask is a 64-bit word with the bits set only along
the edge (see Figure 10b). This is the same for left and
right edges. Since the filled masks depend on the order in
which the pixel is crossed, and there are 28 positions to
enter a pixel and 28 positions to exit, the table size need
only be 28 x 28 or 784 64-bit words long-i.e., 3136 bytes
long. The following sections describe how these masks
are used to perform clipping and area computation
within a pixel. For a 512x 512 image, the use of 8x8
masks gives an effective resolution of 4K x 4K for the
computation of edges; the complexity of the algorithm
remains on the order of 512 x 512, the resolution to
which shading is computed. Hence the name Raster4K.
Processing. The following are the steps of processing:
(1) Initialize the active edge list (AEL), a linked list of
data blocks containing information used in track-
ing an edge from one scan line to the next. A data
block contains items such as a pointer to the
triangle on which the edge lies, the destination
vertex at which the edge terminates, the current
x,y,z coordinates along the edge, and the current
normal vector along the edge. In this algorithm
these data blocks maintain the coherence informa-
tion passed from one scan line to the next. We
refer to them simply as active edges. The AEL con-
tains all active edges crossing the current scan line.
(2) Process each scan line as follows:
(2.1) For each peak in the Y-bucket list, enter at
the current scan line two edges (left and right)
into the AEL. Left and right edges of the same
triangle are always placed next to each other
because of step 2.2.3 below.
(2.2) Process each edge in the AEL as follows:
(2.2.1) "Walk" the edge at the subpixel resolu-
tion until it is outside the pixel. A Bresenham
algorithm19 is used for efficiency. The goal
here is to obtain the subpixel coordinates at
which the edge enters and exits the pixel. For
edges starting inside the pixel, walk back-
wards to obtain the entry coordinates. This
will be corrected for in 2.2.3 below.
(2.2.2) Look up the masks using the entry and
exit subpixel coordinates as an address. Take
the complement to obtain the fill mask of
right edges.
(2.2.3) Enter the mask, z value, normal vector,
and intensity into the X-bucket. The X-buck-
et is a data structure that serves as a z-buffer
and contains additional information. It con-
tains a linked list of edge data covering the
pixel for each x coordinate on the current scan
line.
If an edge belonging to the same triangle is the
first entry in the X-bucket (this would occur
because of adjacency in the AEL), take only
November 1983
the union of the masks instead of creating a
new entry. This corrects thin triangles and
corners (see Figure 11). For triangles which
are less than one subpixel thin, this operation
would leave a zero mask. In this case, OR in
the line mask of the edge so that thin edges do
not completely disappear.
(2.2.4) If the edge has reached the pixel contain-
ing the end vertex of the edge, continue with a
new edge beginning at this vertex. However, if
this vertex is also the end vertex of the other
edge in the same triangle, do not continue,
but instead set the terminate flag.
(2.2.5) Repeat steps 2.2.1 through 2.2.4 until
either the edge has entered a pixel off the scan
line or the terminate flag is set.
(2.3) Fill in pixels between the right and left edges
of the same triangle.
(2.4) Process each pixel in the X-bucket as
follows:
(2.4.1) Process each edge in the pixel as follows:
(2.4.1.1) Clip the edge against all edges that
are in front of it in the same pixel; e.g., if A
is behind B, set the mask belonging to A to
Mask A=Mask A ANID NOT (Mask B).
(2.4.1.2) Compute the exposed area of the
edge by counting the number of bits set.
This can be performed by a look-up opera-
tion on each byte by means of a bit-count
table 256 entries long.
(2.4.1.3) If any bits remain set after clipping,
then the edge is visible; compute the
specular and diffused reflections for the
edge.20
(2.4.1.4) The intensity given to the pixel is the
sum of the intensity of each edge within the
pixel weighted by the exposed area of the
edge including the background color
weighted by the area not covered by any
edge.
Raster4K performance
By the use of an 8 x 8-bit mask within each pixel, the
resolution at which edges in the scene are computed is
always eight times higher than the resolution at which the
shading is computed. If one is prepared to sacrifice qual-
ity for speed, then computing a scene to an edge resolu-
tion of 512 x 512 can be done by using the Raster4K
algorithm of a 64 x 64 window and expanding the subpix-
els within each pixel to a 512 x 512 window. However,
the 64 x 64 shading resolution is far from adequate.
Figure 12 is a series of renderings of the same model
shown in Figure 2. The model consists of 80 rational
bicubic patches subdivided to a planarity tolerance of
one pixel into 20,780 triangles.
Table 1 lists the CPU times to compute these images.
As a comparison, data is also shown for the model sub-
divided into different planarity tolerances. The setup
time is the time taken to perform the polygonal approx-
imation. For further comparison, computation times are
given for other images shown in the figures in this article.
67

Figure 11. Edge processing: mask for right edge (a);
left edge (b); final mask for pixel (c).
To obtain the various resolutions, the algorithm is
performed on a window the size of the shading resolu-
tion and then expanded into a window eight times the
size, i.e., the edge resolution. In order to be displayed
on a 512 x 512 display, the image is compressed by pixel
averaging.
For an edge resolution of 4K x 4K or higher (Figure 2b
is 16K x 16K displayed on a 2048 x 1536 film recorder),
the masks do not have to be expanded and then com-
pressed, because the color of the pixel can be computed
as described by counting the bits and weighting the areas.
The algorithm has been tailored to make the edge resolu-
tion of 4K most computationally cost effective. Thus, in-
creasing from 1K to 2K costs about 100 percent more
(one would expect 400 percent), while the jump from 2K
to 4K is relatively cheap. Notice, in the cases of Figures
4b and 8, that computing at 4K is actually cheaper than at
2K. These are cases where the higher resolution computa-
tion is less than expanding and averaging the subpixels.
for In practice it is better to simply display the image at
lower resolution when a quick look at the image is need-

Table 1.
Timing data for Images shown In this article.

COMPUTATION TIME AT VARIOUS EDGE

RESOLUTIONS (CPU SECS)
PLANARITY
NUMBER OF TOLERANCE SETUP TIME 512 1024 2048 4096 8092
FIGURE TRIANGLES (PIXELS) (CPU SECS) x x x x x
512 1024 2048 4096 8092
3b 68,948 1 116 135 230 471 590 1560
4b 11,692 1 5 42 113 304 298 978
5 73,416 1 34 132 233 518 584 1609
8 20,112 1 9 43 100 246 197 599
2 38,176 0.5 18 87 181 419 478 1368
2 20,780 1 9 63 148 365 411 1245
2 11,744 1.5 6 48 127 330 364 1153

68 IEEE CG8A
Figure 12. Series of renderings of wrinkled surface in Figure 2 at various edge resolutions: 1024 x 1024 (a);
2048 x 2048 (b); 4096 x 4096 (c); 8192 x 8192 (d).

ed. This avoids the need to expand and does not produce well as surfaces trimmed to generalized boun-
the effect present in low shading resolution akin to pixel daries.
replication. We have found that a 128 x 128 or a 256 x 256 (2) The extension of the scan-conversion module to
window for an image on a 512 x 512 display conveys most handle arbitrary polygons.
of the essential feedback needed from the raster image; (3) The migration of the scan-conversion module into
the edge resolution being eight times higher helps even hardware.
more as the window size decreases. Besides speed, (4) Finally, but by far the most important, the
another advantage of this approach is the ability to see development of an environment in which an
more than one view of a model, or different models, side engineer without artistic experience or familiarity
by side for comparison on the same screen. with the properties of light and color can obtain
the most from a shaded image.
Conclusion Hardware implementation will play a vital role in more
user-friendly systems. As images are generated faster and
We have described the integration of color rendering closer to real time, dynamic changes in the image begin to
into a CAD/CAM environment. Several areas are being be perceived as features. This is experienced by anyone
explored further: who moves from a static vector display to a vector
(1) The extension of the polyhedral approximation display with dynamic 3-D rotations. The motion adds a
module to handle arbitrarily high-order surfaces as new dimension in the perception of shape.
November 1983 69
 In addition to dynamic motion, parameters such as the These cracks can be avoided by using a data structure
specular reflectivity of a surface and the position of the that allows all vertices created during subdivision to be
light source can be varied in real time to give better interconnected in a network. Thus, each vertex is repre-
perception of a design. E sented by a four-direction link (up, down, left, and
right), which is inserted into the network upon every sub-
division. An advantage of this is that vertices are used
only once and do not have to be duplicated when they are
Appendix A: hardware configuration shared.
When a subpatch is determined to be planar with
The software package of the RPI color-rendering pro- straight edges and thus suitable for display as a polygon,
cessor is implemented on an IBM 4341 I. The frame buf- its upper left corner is stacked. This choice is ar-
fer used is a Raster Technologies Model 1, which has a bitrary-any corner can be stacked. After all patches
512 x 512 resolution, 24 bits per pixel. have been subdivided, the corners are popped from the
Communications to the frame buffer take place via a stack and polygons are strung together by marching
Device Attachment Control Unit (DACU),21 which sup- around the network with a "first turn" philosophy. In
ports parallel data transfers up to one megabyte per sec- cases where upper left corners are stacked, the following
ond. The output from the DACU is Unibus protocol. steps are performed:
The time necessary to transmit an image over the chan-
nel in run-length encoded format is on the order of (1) Take the upper left vertex from the stack and
several seconds. Referring to Table 1, one can see that, follow the down pointer.
compared to the CPU time for image computation, a few (2) Take all vertices up to and including the first one
seconds of I/O to the display is not a bottleneck. In fact, with a non-null right pointer.
in many cases, disk I/O is slower than transmission over (3) Follow the right pointer.
the DACU/Unibus interface. (4) Take all vertices up to and including the first one
with a non-null up pointer.
(5) Follow the up pointer.
Appendix B: fitting together patches after (6) Take all vertices up to the original starting vertex.
subdivision This procedure also performs a check on the integrity
of the network. The result is a list of vertices that can be
A problem arises in subdividing a surface for approx- displayed as a polygon.
imation by four-sided "polygons" connecting the corner
points. (Strictly speaking, these are not polygons because
all four points do not lie in a plane. However, the 2-D
projection of the four points can be treated as a Acknowledgments
polygon.) When the surface is subdivided to different
levels, cracks appear. Figure 13 shows a configuration We wish to acknowledge the sponsors and the staff of
where a surface topologically represented as FDGH is RPI's Center for Interactive Computer Graphics for sup-
subdivided twice in the upper right (ABCD) and once in port on this project. In particular, Northrop supplied the
the other three quadrants. part used in Figure 4; IBM, the power supply in Figure 1;
A crack will appear along AMB if FABE is entered as and Gray Lorig, the ray-traced image in Figure 7.
a four-sided polygon because the point at M does not In addition, Mitchell Levinn operated the camera for
necessarily lie on the straight line connecting A and B. It Figure 2b, and Pat Search helped in color selection.
lies on the surface. This work was supported under NSF grant ISP79-20240
and other industry grants, which we gratefuly acknowl-
edge. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recom-
mendations expressed in this article are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation or any of the industrial
sponsors.

References
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Figure 13. Subdivision of a surface. New York, May 1982.

70 IEEE CG&A
 4. A. A. G. Requicha and H. B. Voelcker, "Solid Modeling:
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Additional readings
Barr, A. H., "Project Review," Center for Interactive Com-
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Barr, A. H., "Superquadrics and Angle-Preserving Transfor-
mations," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 1,
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November 1983
Barr, A. H., and Bruce Edwards, "Project Review," Center for
Interactive Computer Graphics, Aug. and Dec. 1981.
Breen, David, "Project Review," Center for Interactive Com-
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Crow, F. C., "The Aliasing Problem in Computer Generated
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Lane, J. M., and R. F. Riesenfeld, "A Theoretical Develop-
ment for Computer Generation of Piecewise Polynomial Sur-
faces," IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine In-
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Pitteway, M. L. V., and D. K. Watkinson, "Bresenham's
Algorithm with Grey Scale," Comm. ACM, Vol. 23, No. 11,
Nov. 1980, pp. 625-626; corrigendum, Vol. 24, No. 2, Feb.
1981, p. 88.
Puccio, Phil, "Color Display Support for the Geometric Design
Processor," user's manual and tech. report, Center for Interac-
tive Computer Graphics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
1981.
Snyder, Derek, "A Color Raster Addition to the GDP System
with Full Hidden Surface Removal," master's thesis and tech.
report, Center for Interactive Computer Graphics, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, 1981.
Whitted, J. T., and D. M. Weimer, "A Software Test-Bed for
the Development of 3D Raster Graphics Systems," Computer
Graphics (Proc. Siggraph '81), Vol. 15, No. 3, Aug. 1981, pp.
27 1-277.
Paolo E. Sabella is a research assistant
with the Center for Interactive Computer
Graphics at Rensselaer Polytechnic In-
stitute. His research interests include
geometric modeling, computer-aided
design, and display techniques.
Sabella received a BA in mathematics
and physics from Ohio Wesleyan Univer-
sity and a BS in aeronautical engineering
and MS in computer and systems engineer-
ing from RPI. He is a member of the IEEE and the ACM.
JMichael J. Wozny is currently the director
of the Center for Interactive Computer
Graphics and a professor of electrical and
systems engineering at Rensselaer Poly-
technic Institute in Troy, New York. His
current research interests are computer
systems, computer graphics, CAD/CAM,
and computer-aided engineering. He was
on the faculty and managed computer
facilities at Purdue University from 1965
to 1970 and at Oakland University in Michigan from 1970 to
1975; he conducted computer applications research in tem-
porary appointments at the former NASA Electronics Research
Center in Cambridge (1968) and at GM Research Laboratories
(1973).
An active consultant to industry, government, and univer-
sities, Wozny is editor-in-chief ofIEEE Computer Graphics and
Applications. He is on the editorial advisory board of the
newsletter, CAD/CAMAlert, on the board of directors of the
National Computer Graphics Association, and on the boards of
two companies.
Wozny received his PhD(EE) degree from the University of
Arizona in 1965. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi,
and Sigma Xi.
71