We describe the clipmap, a dynamic texture representation that efficiently caches textures of arbitrarily large size in a finite amount of physical memory for rendering at real-time rates.Further, we describe a software system for managing clipmaps that supports integration into demanding real-time applications.We show the scale and robustness of this integrated hardware/software architecture by reviewing an application virtualizing a 170 gigabyte texture at 60 Hertz.Finally, we suggest ways that other rendering systems may exploit the concepts underlying clipmaps to solve related problems.

The InfiniteRealityTM graphics system is the first general-purpose workstation system specifically designed to deliver 60Hz steady frame rate high-quality rendering of complex scenes. This paper describes the InfiniteReality system architecture and presents novel features designed to handle extremely large texture databases, maintain control over frame rendering time, and allow user customization for diverse video output requirements. Rendering performance expressed using traditional workstation metrics exceeds seven million lighted, textured, antialiased triangles per second, and 710 million textured antialiased pixels filled per second.