Re-render acceleration of frame with lighting change

• US 8,633,927 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2006
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Gritz, Larry I., Enderton, Eric B., Schlag, John F., Wexler, Daniel Elliot, Nemec, Philip A., Mech, Radomir
• Primary Examiner(s): Welch, David T
• Application Number:
  US11/493,058
• Publication Number:
  US 20080024495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,737 Days
• Field of Search: 345/426, 382/274
• US Class Current: 345/426
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/50 Lighting effects

Abstract

In an example embodiment, 3D graphics object information associated with a render of a frame may be stored in an object-indexed cache in a memory. The 3D graphics object information comprises results for one or more shading operations further comprises one or more input values for the one or more shading operations.

Claims

1. A method for re-render acceleration of a frame, comprising:

storing one or more results of one or more calculations of lighting contributions from one or more lighting sources associated with a shading operation for one or more points of one or more 3D graphics objects for a first render of a frame in a 3D graphics object-indexed cache on a per-3D graphics object point basis in a memory accessible by a graphics processing unit, the 3D graphics object-indexed cache further to store one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame;

modifying a lighting parameter at least in part in response to a lighting change specified by a user; and

re-rendering the frame using the graphics processing unit and using at least a subset of the one or more results of the one or more calculations stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part in response to said modifying the lighting parameter, wherein said re-rendering the frame comprises determining whether all of one or more input values for one or more calculations associated with a shading operation of the re-render of the frame match all of the one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame, and, in response to a determination of a match, using the results of the one or more calculations for the first render of the frame for the re-render of the frame; and

in that event that any of the one or more results stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache depend on an external file that has been modified, recalculating the results determined to depend on the external file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said re-rendering of the frame further comprises determining which of a plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects are affected by said modifying the lighting parameter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said re-rendering the frame further comprises recalculating one or more results of one or more calculations associated with one or more of the plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by the said modifying the lighting parameter.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said re-rendering the frame further comprises retrieving one or more results of one or more calculations associated with one or more of the plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects determined to not be affected by said modifying the lighting parameter from the 3D graphics object-indexed cache, and utilizing the retrieved one or more results at least in part for said re-rendering the frame.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said re-rendering the frame comprises re-rasterizing the frame using the graphics processing unit.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said re-rendering the frame comprises re-rasterizing the frame utilizing the one or more results of one or more calculations associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to not be affected by said modifying the lighting parameter and further utilizing the recalculated one or more results of one or more calculations associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by said modifying the lighting parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing one or more results of one or more calculations related to pixel color.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining which of a prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache comprises basing said determination at least in part on available computer platform resources.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said basing said determination at least in part on available computer resources comprises determining an amount of memory allocated to the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache comprises receiving an input from the user indicating at least in part which results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

12. An article comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing platform to;

store one or more results of one or more calculations of lighting contributions from one or more lighting sources associated with a shading operation for one or more points of one or more 3D graphics objects for a first render of a frame in a 3D graphics object-indexed cache on a per-3D graphics object point basis;

store one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame;

modify a lighting parameter at least in part in response to a lighting change specified by a user; and

re-render the frame using at least a subset of the one or more results of the one or more calculations stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part in response to the modification of the lighting parameter, wherein said re-rendering the frame comprises determining whether all of one or more input values for one or more calculations associated with a shading operation of the re-render of the frame match all of the one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame, and, in response to a determination of a match, using the results of the one or more calculations for the first render of the frame for the re-render of the frame; and

in that event that any of the one or more results stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache depend on an external file that has been modified, recalculating the results determined to depend on the external file.

13. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to re-render the frame at least in part by determining which of a plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects are affected by the modification of the lighting parameter.

14. The article of claim 13, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to recalculate one or more results of one or more calculations associated with one or more of the plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter.

15. The article of claim 13, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to re-render the frame at least in part by retrieving one or more results of one or more calculations associated with one or more of the plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects determined to not be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter from the 3D graphics object-indexed cache, and by utilizing the retrieved one or more results at least in part for said re-render of the frame.

16. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to re-render the frame by re-rasterizing the frame.

17. The article of claim 15, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to re-render the frame at least in part by re-rasterizing the frame utilizing the one or more results of one or more calculations associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to not be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter and also by utilizing the recalculated one or more results of one or more calculations associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter.

18. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to store one or more results of one or more calculations related to pixel color.

19. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to determine which of a prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to determine which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part by basing said determination at least in part on available computer platform resources.

21. The article of claim 20, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to base said determination at least in part on available computer resources by determining an amount of memory allocated to the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

22. The article of claim 19, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to determine which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part by receiving an input from the user indicating at least in part which results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

a graphics processor to;

store one or more results of one or more calculations of lighting contributions from one or more lighting sources associated with a shading operation for one or more points of one or more 3D graphics objects for a first render of a frame in a 3D graphics object-indexed cache one a per-3D graphics object point basis in a memory coupled to the graphics processor, the 3D graphics object-indexed cache further to store one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame;

modify a lighting parameter at least in part in response to a lighting change specified by a user; and

re-render the frame using at least a subset of the one or more results of the one or more calculations stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part in response to the modification of lighting parameter, wherein said re-rendering the frame comprises determining whether all of one or more input values for one or more calculations associated with a shading operation of the re-render of the frame match all of the one or more input values for the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation for the first render of the frame, and, in response to a determination of a match, using the results of the one or more calculations for the first render of the frame for the re-render of the frame; and

in that event that any of the one or more results stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache depend on an external file that has been modified, recalculating the results determined to depend on the external file.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, the graphics processor further to:

re-render the frame at least in part by determining which of a plurality of points of one or more 3D graphics objects are affected by the modification of lighting parameter; and

recalculate one or more results of one or more calculations associated with one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, the graphics processor further to re-render the frame at least in part by re-rasterizing the frame utilizing the one or more results of one or more calculations associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to not be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter and further by utilizing the recalculated one or more results associated with the one or more of the plurality of points of the one or more 3D graphics objects determined to be affected by the modification of the lighting parameter.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, the graphics processor further to determine which of a prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations associated with the shading operation of the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, the graphics processor further to determine which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part by basing said determination at least in part on available computer platform resources.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, the graphics processor further to base said determination at least in part on available computer resources by determining an amount of memory allocated to the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, the graphics processor further to determine which of the prioritized list of the results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache at least in part by receiving an input from the user indicating at least in part which results of the one or more calculations of the lighting contributions from the one or more lighting sources for the first render of the frame are to be stored in the 3D graphics object-indexed cache.