<i>Z</i> ³

Abstract

In this paper we present an algorithm for low-cost hardware antialiasing and transparency. This technique keeps a central Z value along with compact floating-point Z gradients in the X and Y dimensions for each fragment within a pixel (hence the name Z3). It uses a small fixed amount of storage per pixel. If the visible complexity of the pixel exceeds the storage space available for the pixel, the minimum number of fragments having the closest Z values are merged. This combines different fragments from the same surface, resulting in both storage and processing efficiency.