Patent ID: 8253736

Claim:
A method performed by a computing system having a processor and memory for reducing occlusions when displaying multiple objects, comprising: creating a geometric model based on modeling information, the created geometric model identifying at least two objects; receiving a selection of a viewpoint, the viewpoint establishing a perspective from which the geometric model is to be displayed; identifying from the created geometric model a set of objects for analysis; analyzing by the processor the identified set of objects to compute an occlusion measure, the occlusion measure measuring an extent to which all of the objects of the set of objects are occluded, wherein the occlusion measure is computed at least in part by computing an occlusion value for each object in the identified set of objects, wherein the occlusion value for each identified object corresponds to the fraction of the object that is occluded by other objects in the set of objects; in response to determining that the occlusion measure measuring an extent to which all of the objects of the set of objects are occluded exceeds a threshold occlusion value, improving visibility of the occluded objects by applying a functional dynamics technique wherein the applied functional dynamics technique causes a portion of an occluded object to remain occluded; and in response to determining that objects are occluded and that the occlusion measure measuring an extent to which all of the objects of the set of objects are occluded does not exceed the threshold occlusion value, not improving visibility of the occluded objects.