[0022] As an example to which the aforementioned schemes in the "non-real-time CG" field can be applied, a REYES architecture proposed by Robert L. Cook et al., "The Reyes Image Rendering Architecture", Computer Graphics (Proc. of SIGGRAPH '87), Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 95-102 (reference 4) is known. This architecture is implemented by software, and is commercially available as "PHOTOREALISTIC RENDERMAN" software from Pixar Animation Studios, USA. This architecture divides an input primitive into polygons called micropolygons equal to or smaller than the pixel size, and programmably executes elaborate processes including displacement mapping in units of vertexes of micropolygons.
[0023] However, this REYES architecture attaches importance on creation of very high-quality pictures. Hence, this architecture requires a long time for arithmetic operations since it is not devised to shorten the drawing time, which is strictly required in real-time 3D CG, and is not suitable for real-time hardware. Especially, since all primitives are basically processed by dividing them into small micropolygons equal to or smaller than the pixel size, a huge number of micropolygons are generated (for example, in the example described in reference 4, the number of micropolygons is 6.8 millions, resulting in poor adaptability to real-time hardware.
[0024] It is an object of the present invention to provide a graphic computing apparatus which allows an application creator to freely control the speed and image quality and can implement a high-quality image generation scheme used in non-real-time CG in real time.
[0064] A graphic processor according to the present invention is used in a real-time 3D graphics system such as a game machine or the like, as shown in, e.g., FIG. 1. A controller 1, DVD drive 2, hard disk drive 3, and communication unit 4 are connected to a low speed bus, and a CPU 6 is also connected thereto via a bus bridge 5. A medium (DVD) set in the DVD drive 2 stores application software such as a game or the like.
