An efficient modified Phong shading algorithm & its low-complexity realization

A modified mixing shading algorithm is proposed, with reduced operational cost in comparison with Phong´s shading algorithm. Based on the algorithm, a low-complexity shading engine is designed. The shading engine performs in log space, using low-complexity logarithm and anti-log algorithms. The algorithms are combinations of interpolation algorithms using Taylor´s expansion and table-lookup operations. This results in small table size, low complexity and high operation speed. Based on EDA tool simulations, the log-space engine can achieve a high clock rate of 450 MHz and a fill rate up to 117.5 M pixels/second, with total gate count of 12061.