US Patent 7259760 Polygonal curvature mapping to increase texture efficiency

A texture projection is generated from a plurality of initial polygonal curved surfaces. Specifically, each of the initial polygonal curved surfaces are divided to form a plurality of second-generation polygonal curved surfaces. Each second-generation polygonal curved surface is then divided to form a third-generation polygonal curved surface. In one embodiment of the present invention, each polygonal curved surface of the same generation has the same area. The texture projection formed using polygonal curved surfaces is more efficient than conventional texture projection because each facet of the texture projection formed using polygonal curved surfaces maps to a spherical area.