Texture Mapping as a Fundamental Drawing Primitive

Texture mapping has traditionally been used to add realism to computer graphics images. In recent years, this technique has moved from the domain of software rendering systems to that of high performance graphics hardware. But texture mapping hardware can be used for many more applications than simply applying diffuse patterns to polygons. Wesurvey applications of texturemapping including simple texturemapping, projective textures, and image warping. We thendescribe texturemapping techniques for drawing anti-aliased lines, air-brushes, and antialiased text. Next we show how texture mapping may be used as a fundamental graphics primitive for volume rendering, environment mapping, color interpolation, contouring, and many other applications. CR