Rethinking Texture Mapping

Abstract

The intrinsic problems of texture mapping, regarding its difficulties in content creation and the visual artifacts it causes in rendering, are well-known, but often considered unavoidable. In this state of the art report, we discuss various radically different ways to rethink texture mapping that have been proposed over the decades, each offering different advantages and trade-offs. We provide a brief description of each alternative texturing method along with an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses in terms of applicability, usability, filtering quality, performance, and potential implementation related challenges.