Patent ID: 8854391

Claim:
A method, with a computer device, of providing images of a scene in a virtual world, comprising: rendering the scene as viewed from a location and observation angle corresponding to a client's avatar in the virtual world to generate a plurality of rendering results, wherein the location of the client's avatar is not included in the scene, and wherein the rendering comprises: identifying at least one fixed observation angle associated with a client's avatar in the virtual world; determining that at least one fixed observation angle is associated with a plurality of scene depths, wherein each of the plurality of scene depths comprises a set of objects; rendering each of the plurality of scene depths and the set of objects within each of the plurality of scene depths, wherein, for a current scene depth in the plurality of scene depths, the rendering comprises generating at least one image comprising the set of objects in the current scene depth and at least a portion of each object in the set of objects for each subsequent scene depth in the plurality of scene depths as observed from the current scene depth, and wherein objects in a previously rendered scene depth are removed from the set of objects in a subsequently rendered scene depth, wherein the plurality of rendering results comprises the at least one image that has been generated for each of the plurality of scene depths; generating at least one image stream based on at least a part of the plurality of rendering results; and sending the at least one image stream from the computer device to a client, wherein the at least one image stream comprises the scene in a pre-rendered form, and wherein the pre-rendered form is configured to present the scene to the client without rendering of the scene by the client.