Technical FAQ

Question: What are micropolygons?

Micropolygons are tiny quads or triangles about the size of a pixel. Current rendering engines typically tessellate smooth surfaces into micropolyons, often requiring large amounts of memory which can result in crashes. Micropolygons are also the cause of many creasing and cracking problems, particularly in scenes with displacements.

Question: What is point-sampling?

Point-sampling is the method of shooting rays through a pixel to determine which objects in the scene are visible. A problem with point-sampling is that it is speculative, so there are always cases where it will miss objects that should be found. When this happens, image quality suffers. Characteristically, artifacts such as “chunky edges” and “popping” are common problems associated with point-sampling, particularly in animations.

Question: Then how does your software work?

Meridian embodies a completely new and patented method for computer graphics that does not rely on traditional approaches. Our method is based on interval analysis, an applied science that uses a relatively new branch of mathematics known as interval arithmetic. In particular, our method makes extensive use of modal intervals.

Question: What are the benefits of interval arithmetic and interval analysis?

Interval arithmetic and interval analysis are mathematically rigorous, unlike traditional methods which are speculative. This allows the computer to solve problems out of reach of any speculative method. For computer graphics, this means elimination of alisaing artifacts that are otherwise casused by traditional speculative methods. Rendering is also more automatic, so the software is easier to use and requires less memory.

Question: What about speed?

Although our software is competitive in speed, even the most powerful modern computers do not yet have hardware support for interval arithmetic. This means all of the interval arithmetic calculations must currently be emulated in software.

Question: Will an interval arithmetic processor or GPU make your software faster?

Yes. Industry efforts are currently underway to standardize interval arithmetic. The introduction of interval arithmetic processors into modern computers and GPUs will provide dramatic speed improvements for Meridian.

Question: Do you support Linux or Mac?

Not yet. Support for these platforms will be provided as the market dictates.

No
Micropolgons

No
Point Sampling