Depth



     





Depth Cues

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

Based on physics, and workings of human vision






Depth Cues






Summary






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





Unity

occlusion
depth-buffering

linear perspective
relative size
relative height
perspective camera

texture gradient
perspective camera, textures

shading, shadows
light source + shader

aerial perspective
fog (shader)

accomodation
depth-of-field image effect (Unity Pro)

stereo parallax
multiple cameras, display-specific plugins

motion parallax
transformations / camera movement


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