Texture Space Shading Dicing Oracle for View-Dependent Mip Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current texture space shading (TSS) techniques assume a texture resolution similar to screen resolution, leading to increased texture memory usage and compatibility issues with procedural and virtualized geometry, and are not scalable for AAA game engines.
Innovation Solution
A real-time dicing oracle that outputs a view-dependent multum in parvo (mip) region map for each visible meshlet, allowing TSS to be performed in scenarios where texture resolution differs from screen resolution, and a memory management strategy to allocate texture memory based on visible shading elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If current TSS techniques assume texture resolution similar to screen resolution, then texture mapping is simplified, but texture memory usage increases and compatibility with procedural geometry is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the resolution parameter of the mip region map dynamically based on the actual texture resolution and screen resolution relationship. By calculating an appropriate resolution for the mip region map that accounts for texture tiling and procedural generation, the system adapts the texture sampling strategy to match the actual texture characteristics rather than assuming a fixed relationship between texture and screen resolution.
2Measurement precision
If current TSS techniques use precomputed triangle ID texture, then shading accuracy is improved, but texture memory requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the triangle ID information from a separate precomputed texture and integrates it directly into the vertex shader calculations. Instead of relying on a dedicated triangle ID texture that consumes significant memory, the system computes triangle identifiers on-the-fly using the vertex data and UV coordinates already available in the shader, eliminating the need for large precomputed ID textures while maintaining shading accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a compact mip region map as an intermediary data structure that provides the necessary triangle identification information in a memory-efficient format. This mip region map serves as a mediator between the vertex data and the shading calculations, providing the required spatial partitioning information without requiring large precomputed textures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If TSS is made scalable for AAA game engines, then support for procedural and virtualized geometry is improved, but complexity of the shading pipeline increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal TSS approach that works across multiple geometry types (traditional meshes, procedural geometry, virtualized geometry) by using a common mip region map-based methodology. The same core algorithm handles different geometry representations by working with their respective UV parameterizations, eliminating the need for separate handling paths for different geometry types and reducing overall pipeline complexity despite the increased versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure provides systems, devices, apparatus, and methods, including computer programs encoded on storage media, for a dicing oracle for texture space shading. A processor obtains an indication of a UV parameterization for each of a set of geometry units and a target number of pixels per region of the UV parameterization, where the UV parameterization includes a first set of UV coordinates for an object space. The processor renders the set of geometry units in order to obtain a second set of UV coordinates for a screen space and a set of derivatives for the second set of UV coordinates. The processor calculates a resolution for a mip region map based on the set of derivatives and the target number of pixels per region. The processor outputs an indication of the calculated resolution.