On display of space filling atomic models in real-time

Abstract

Earlier work on real-time display of planar polygonal three-dimensional object scenes is extended to the inclusion of repetitive curved surfaces. In earlier work the visible scene components were calculated and reduced to scan line encoded image segments to generate real-time cartoons. That work was limited to visible planar surface elements because of the display algorithms employed. Display time is limited to 33 ms so that scan-interlaced TV may be used. Curved surfaces would normally be approximated by a large number of facets; however, Mach effect's faceting of the surface will occur for all but the simplest cases. Point by point curved surface shading is examined in detail so that special hardware may be defined for displaying the visible surface parts in 33 ms. The hardware concepts employed can be extended to other simple curvatures that appear repeatedly in a visible scene. CONTENT INDICATORS: 3.13, 6.22, 6.35, 6.4, 3.89.