A computer animation system is discussed which employs interactive techniques and presents a unified approach to the graphical display of complex three dimensional data.The system facilitates the generation, manipulation and display of highly detailed data with the aid of interactive devices and a video interface to a standard color TV monitor.The system enables the animator to create a variety of objects (including texture) and to specify the necessary transformations for animation sequences.A run length processing technique combined with a brute force Z-buffer algorithm has been newly designed and implemented that can handle the intersection of several million faces, lines and points.This makes possible a full range of visual cues to simulate fire, smoke, water and complex 3-D texture such as grass, hair and bark.Basic concepts and approaches are described.The display algorithm and the procedure model to generate texture are presented and the implications of the system for computer animation are discussed. Extensions to the system are outlined which include a unique graphics display processor currently under construction that includes a partial implementation of the display algorithm in hardware.

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A comprehensive 3-D real-time computer animation system is based upon a broad range of research activities in the field of computer graphics. In many ways the requirements for such a system are more challenging and complex than for other graphics systems. This is particularly true if one builds a language and a system which is truly user oriented and which has viable production capabilities for researchers and film makers. Too often systems which are the result of a research experiment in hardware or software design do not go beyond a beautiful demonstration of potentialities. Such experimentation is essential to advance the state of knowledge but if computer animation is to become a new research and production instrument we must, in addition, provide more examples of useable systems.Although each of the following topics are aspects of a real-time animation environment deserving a detailed explanation, they will be dealt with in a way to introduce to the reader basic requirements and problems. The topics are:I. STATE OF THE ART SYSTEMS, AND LANGUAGES• Used as references and as a basis of comparison.II. AN ANIMATION ENVIRONMENT• Several systems and languages are being implemented to run under RSX-11/D on our PDP-11/45 computer.A. VISIBLE SURFACE SYSTEM• Allan Myers' algorithm• VILAN (VIsual LANguage)B. GRAPHICS SUPPORT SYSTEM• Manfred Knemeyer's system for handling hardware devices, data structures, management of transformations and time, and memory management for the graphics buffer.C. ANIMA• A new graphics programming language has been designed and is being implemented.D. DATA GENERATION SYSTEM• Some approaches to problems are briefly discussed.III. DISPLAY HARDWARE AND GRAPHICS ALGORITHMS• The problems presented by the order of transformations in an algorithm are briefly described.IV. HIGH PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS• some speculations