Bennebroek, K.Ernst, I.Rüsseler, H.Wittig, O.Bengt-Olaf Schneider and Andreas Schilling2014-02-062014-02-061996--https://doi.org/10.2312/EGGH/EGGH96/003-009The VISA+ hardware architecture is the first of a new generation of graphics accelerators designed primarily to render bump-, texture-, environment- and environment-bump-mapped polygons. This paper presents examples of the main graphical capabilities and discusses methods and simplifications used to create high quality images. One of the key concepts in the VISA+ design, the use of reflectance cubes, is predestined for environment mapping. In combination with bump- and texture mapping it shows the strength of our new architecture. Furthermore it justifies some of the decision's made duringsimulation and development of the complex VISA+ architecture.Design Principles of Hardware-based Phong Shading and Bump Mapping