Adaptive Cutaways for Comprehensible Rendering of Polygonal Scenes

In 3D renderings of complex scenes, objects of interest may be occluded by those of secondary importance. Cutaway renderings address this problem by omitting portions of secondary objects so as to expose the objects of interest. This paper introduces a method for generating cutaway renderings of polygonal scenes at interactive frame rates, using illustrative and non-photorealistic rendering cues to expose objects of interest in the context of surrounding objects. We describe a method for creating a view-dependent cutaway shape along with modifications to the polygonal rendering pipeline to create cutaway renderings. Applications for this technique include architectural modeling, path planning, and computer games.