Patent ID: 6999093

Claim:
A method for creating a background for display in a virtual environment, where the background is dynamically variable, comprising the steps of: (a) providing: (i) geometry data that define the background; (ii) gray scale texture data for the background; (iii) color texture data for the background, said color texture data defining chrominance values that vary as a function of a predefined parameter; (b) supplying a value for the predefined parameter, said value dynamically changing; (c) using the value supplied for the predefined parameter to determine chrominance values from the color texture data for pixels comprising the background, where specific pixels correspond to specific portions of the color texture data; (d) modulating the gray scale texture data for successive pixels with the chrominance values determined for the pixels; and (e) using results from the step of modulating, successively rendering the background in the virtual environment, so that the background dynamically changes as a function of the value for the predefined parameter.