MULTILEVEL, CLIENT-SERVER, LARGE MODEL TRAVERSER

In a client-server system in which scenes of objects are displayed by a client which receives data from a server, the rendering of the scene is speeded up by eliminating large amounts of data associated with objects which will not be rendered. This is accomplished by storing the object data in a tree hierarchy, and then first pruning those objects which are outside of the view of the observer in several defined steps. After the objects which will not be rendered have been pruned by the server, the data associated with objects which could not be pruned is transferred to the client over a data path, and the client goes through a number of steps to cull objects which will not be viewed. By utilizing the present invention, the display of graphics objects is significantly enhanced without need to use the former brute force methodology.