Nvidia patents math trick to speed up 3D object rendering
Nvidia describes a method for calculating a specific direction, called an angle-weighted normal, on the surface of a 3D object. This helps computer graphics software quickly decide if a point is inside or outside the object by analyzing nearby triangles and their angles. The process is used during the rendering phase to create accurate images of complex shapes.
In the filing’s own words
In various examples, determining angle-weighted normals for content processing systems and applications is described herein. Systems and methods are disclosed that determine an angle-weighted normal, such as during a traversal of a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) of a three-dimensional (3D) object, and then use the angle-weighted normal to determine whether a query point is located inside or outside of the 3D object. To determine the angle-weighted normal, triangles that potentially include a closest point to the query point may be identified, such as during the traversal of the BVH to identify the closest point on the 3D object to the query point. The potential triangles may then be analyzed to determine one or more triangles for which the closest point is located. Additionally, one or more weights and/or one or more surface normals associated with the triangle(s) may be used to calculate the angle-weighted normal.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: determining, for a first polygon of a plurality of polygons associated with a surface mesh, that a first point located in an area enclosed by the first polygon is positioned at a first minimum distance between a second point associated with a query and any point in the area enclosed by the first polygon; determining that the first minimum distance is less than a threshold distance from a second minimum distance associated with a third point located in an area enclosed by a second polygon of the plurality of polygons; determining a first weight associated with the first point and a second weight associated with the second point; determining a weighted normal based at least on the first weight, a first surface normal of the first polygon, the second weight, and a second surface normal of the second polygon; determining, based at least on the weighted normal, whether the second point is located outside of a volume enclosed by the surface mesh; and rendering an image of an object represented by the surface mesh based at least on the determining whether the second point is located outside of the volume enclosed by the surface mesh.
Facts
- Company
- Nvidia (NVIDIA Corporation)
- Official title
- Computing angle-weighted normals
- Patent number
- US12762738B2
- Application number
- 18520087
- Filed
- Nov 27, 2023
- Granted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06T 7/75 Physics & computingG06T 17/20 Physics & computingMore from Nvidia in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.