Integer algorithm for rendering curved surfaces (Q1114325)

The paper addresses the problem of rendering free-form surfaces, starting from boundary representation. A family of surfaces is presented that can be viewed as a \(C^ 1\) generalization of the bilinear Coons' patches. An algorithm for rendering this family of surfaces is provided that uses integer arithmetic and bitwise operations only. The algorithm allows efficient ``on the fly'' implementation of Phong shading, texture mapping, surface normal vector modulation, and also of some other effects using only a few 2D lookup tables and some additions. It seems that the approach presented in the paper in conjunction with the z-buffer technique for solving visibility problem form an efficient method for rendering complex surfaces, suitable even for hardware implementation.