GRAPHICS SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RENDERING INDEPENDENT 2D AND 3D OBJECTS USING POINTER BASED DISPLAY LIST VIDEO REFRESH OPERATIONS

A spanning based method for rendering and display of 3D graphical data on a display device. The method first parses the geometry data, generates independent vertex-sorted geometric primitives (e.g., triangles) and then performs setup on the geometric primitives. The method then computes horizontal segments that make up each triangle, performs a Y sort of the triangles for each span line, and performs an X sort of triangle segments and vertices for each span line. The method then performs a Z rules determination for each span line to discard or reject hidden segments. The method then constructs the 3-D VDRL list for each span line comprising pointers which reference viewed triangle spans. During execution, the 3-D VDRL is read and interpreted to generate pixel data. The pixel data includes the viewed triangle spans and may include texture data or other data referenced by the VDRL.