3-view impostors

Abstract

In this article we present a new volumetric representation of objects which can be rendered in real-time on modern GPUs. We show how existing polygonal objects are transformed into a volumetric representation involving space carving and height fields. The performance of the rendering algorithm is determined by the screen space area of the volume, and is suitable as an impostor algorithm for objects sufficiently far from the viewer. These 3-view impostors are viewable from any angle and only need to be updated if the object is animated dynamically. 3-View impostors offer a number of advantages over competitive techniques, namely: regular sampling for several views, bounded texture usage, accelerated ray object surface intersection, and more robust handling of thin surfaces.