HARDWARE UTILIZATION OF COLOR INTERPOLATION CAPABILITY IN A COLOR IMAGING SYSTEM

A method and means are provided for utilizing, in a color imaging environment, such as ray tracing, display adapter hardware which is capable of interpolating color values for pixels lying in an area between previously color imaged pixels. A computer system CPU performs ray tracing calculations, or the like for a predetermined number of the total pixels, rather then each pixel, as is the case with conventional ray trace image systems. The system CPU then turns over the color imaged pixels to a display adapter, capable of color interpolating therebetween. In this way, previously idle display adapter hardware can be utilized to determine pixel color values and allow the system CPU to continue color imaging other more critical areas of a scene to be displayed. Therefore, an image can be rendered at a much faster rate than possible with conventional systems, with relatively no visible loss in quality.