To the end user, this means that textures such as stone walls will have more apparent depth and thus greater realism with less of an influence on the performance of the simulation.
At steeper view-angles, the texture coordinates are displaced more, giving the illusion of depth due to parallax effects as the view changes.
Subsequent enhancements have been made to the algorithm incorporating iterative approaches to allow for occlusion and accurate silhouette rendering.
[2] Steep parallax mapping is one name for the class of algorithms that trace rays against heightfields.
Interval mapping improves on the usual binary search done in relief mapping by creating a line between known inside and outside points and choosing the next sample point by intersecting this line with a ray, rather than using the midpoint as in a traditional binary search.