Depth

     

Depth Cues

"Hints" that suggest three-dimensionality - shape or distance

Based on physics, and workings of human vision

Depth Cues

Summary

• occlusion
• linear perspective
• relative size
• relative height
• texture gradient
• shading, shadows
• aerial perspective
• accomodation
• stereo parallax
• motion parallax

Occlusion / Interposition

Limbourg. Tres Riches Heures: January. 1412-16

Occlusion / Interposition

Hiroshige. Plum Estate, Kameido. 1857

Occlusion / Interposition

Diablo (Blizzard North, 1996)

Perspective

Linear Perspective

Jack Delano. Chicago Galewood yard. 1944

Linear Perspective

van Gogh. Corridor in the Asylum. 1889

Linear Perspective

Dali. The First Days of Spring 1932

Linear Perspective

Tempest (Atari, 1981)

One-Point Perspective

Relative Size

Durer. The Adoration of the Magi. 1504

Relative Size

Wolfenstein 3D (id Software, 1992)

Relative Height

Limbourg. Tres Riches Heures: February. 1412-16

Relative Height

Constable. Chain Pier, Brighton. 1827

Relative Height

Marble Madness (Atari, 1984)

Texture Gradient

Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street; Rainy Day. 1877

Texture Gradient

Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street; Rainy Day (detail)

Texture Gradient

Turner Whitted. Ray Tracing. 1980

Lighting & Shadows

Michelangelo. David. 1504

Lighting & Shadows

Michelangelo. The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist (the Doni Tondo). c. 1503-05

Lighting & Shadows

Monet. Rouen Cathedral, the West Portal and Saint-Romain Tower, Full Sunlight, Harmony in Blue and Gold) / Rouen Cathedral: Full Sunlight. 1894

Lighting & Shadows

    
Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996)      /      Doom 3 (id Software, 2004)

Lighting & Shadows

Cel Shading

Aerial Perspective

Gregg M. Erickson. Mount Ellinor. CC-BY

Aerial Perspective

Friedrich. Riesengebirge. 1835

Aerial Perspective

Monet. The Thames at Westminster (Westminster Bridge). 1871

Aerial Perspective

Myst V (Ubisoft, 2005)

Accomodation (Focus)

Accomodation (Focus)

Vermeer. The Lacemaker. 1669-70

Accomodation (Focus)

Motion Parallax

Disney. Bambi. 1942

Motion Parallax

Shadow of the Beast (Psygnosis, 1989)

Stereo Parallax

Stereo Parallax

Stereo Parallax

Virtual Boy - Mario's Tennis (Nintendo, 1995)

Stereo Parallax

Oculus Rift
CC-BY-SA 4.0 image by Ats Kurvet

OpenGL

occlusion

depth-buffering (glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST))

linear perspective

relative size

relative height

perspective projection (gluPerspective)

texture gradient

perspective, texture mapping (glTexImage2D, etc)

shading, shadows

lighting (glLight, glMaterial, glNormal)

aerial perspective

fog (glFog)

accomodation

accumulation buffer (glAccum)

stereo parallax

quad-buffering, color-masking

motion parallax

transformations

This document is by Dave Pape, and is released under a Creative Commons License.