Patent Document ID: 9171390
Application ID: 12843827
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for generating images to be viewable on a display using a computer that are generated based on scene geometry obtained from computer-readable storage and animation data representing changes over time of elements of the scene geometry, the method comprising: receiving an object comprising at least some of the scene geometry and at least some of the animation data; receiving motion depiction parameters; generating a time aggregate object (TAO) comprising an aggregate graphical representation of an object at different times in a movement; identifying a view ray; generating a trace at a first resolution, wherein the trace comprises the intersection of points of the ray and the TAO, wherein the first resolution is determined by: selecting a first, uniform sampling frequency; calculating a non-linearity between vertex positions; comparing the non-linearity between vertex positions to a coursing threshold; and adding sampling points if the non-linearity exceeds the coursing threshold; regenerating the trace, wherein the trace is regenerated at a scene-wide, second resolution; generating trace fragments from the regenerated trace representing elements of the scene geometry over a nonzero time period, wherein a trace fragment includes data about the elements and includes temporal information over the nonzero time period indicating times, for given positions of a camera view port, at which given portions of elements of scene geometry appear at those given positions; generating shading for the trace fragments, wherein the images including contributions from the trace fragments would suggest motion of the represented elements to a viewer of the generated images; combining the shading for the trace fragments with shading for the scene geometry at an instant in frame time equal to a current frame time; and rendering, for at least one pixel, a pixel color based on at least some of the generated shading such that motion effects contribute to the features that would suggest the motion.