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A Statistical Comparison of Two Hidden Surface Techniques: the Scan‐line and Z‐buffer Algorithms
Author(s) -
Slater Mel,
Drake Kieron,
Davison Allan,
Kordakis Emmanouell,
Billyard Adam,
Miranda Eliot
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8659.1120131
Subject(s) - point in polygon , line (geometry) , computer science , scan line , algorithm , polygon (computer graphics) , surface (topology) , computer graphics (images) , line segment , image (mathematics) , computer vision , mathematics , geometry , polygon mesh , telecommunications , frame (networking) , grayscale
Abstract This paper compares two image space hidden surface removal algorithms for polygonal scenes. These are the z‐buffer and scan‐line algorithms. There is first an overview of each algorithm, followed by a simulation experiment, designed to compare the number of polygons per second which can be rendered by each algorithm. The simulation varies the number of polygons in the scene, and the size and distribution of polygons over the display. The results suggest that the z‐buffer is preferred for a large enough number of polygons, however, smaller polygons and uniform distribution of polygons favour the scan‐line approach. The analysis does not take into account the complexity of the shading rule, which is likely also to favour the scan‐line method.