INTERACTIVE DISPLAY OF LARGE NURBS MODELS

We present algorithms for interactive rendering of large-scare NURBS m odels. The algorithms convert the NURBS surfaces to Bezier surfaces, t essellate each Bezier surface into triangles, and render them using th e triangle-rendering capabilities common to current graphics systems. This paper presents algorithms for computing tight bounds on surface p roperties in order to generate high quality tessellation of Bezier sur faces. We introduce enhanced Visibility determination techniques and p resent methods to make efficient use of coherence between successive f rames. In addition, we also discuss issues in parallelization of these techniques. The algorithm also avoids polygonization anomalies like c racks. Our algorithms work well in practice and, on high-end graphics systems, are able to display models described using thousands of Bezie r surfaces at interactive frame rates.