Efficient conservative visibility culling using theprioritized-layered projection algorithm

We propose a novel conservative visibility culling technique based on the Prioritized-Layered Projection (PLP) algorithm. PLP is a time-critical rendering technique that computes, for a given viewpoint, a partially correct image by rendering only a subset of the geometric primitives, those that PLP determines to be most likely visible. Our new algorithm builds on PLP and provides an efficient way of finding the remaining visible primitives. We do this by adding a second phase to PLP which uses image-space techniques for determining the visibility status of the remaining geometry. Another contribution of our work is to show how to efficiently implement such image-space visibility queries using currently available OpenGL hardware and extensions. We report on the implementation of our techniques on several graphics architectures, analyze their complexity, and discuss a possible hardware extension that has the potential to further increase performance     

Object-Space Visibility Ordering for Point-Based and Volume Rendering

This paper presents a method to accelerate algorithms that need a correct and complete visibility ordering of their data for rendering. The technique works by pre‐sorting primitives in object‐space using three lists (one for each axis: X, Y and Z), and then combining the lists using graphics hardware by rendering each list to a texture and merging the textures in the end. We validate our algorithm by applying it to the splatting technique using several types of rendering, including point‐based rendering and volume rendering. We also detail our hardware implementation for volume rendering using point sprites.     

View-dependent textured splatting

We present a novel approach to render low resolution point clouds with multiple high resolution textures – the type of data typical from passive vision systems. The low precision, noisy, and sometimes incomplete nature of such data sets is not suitable for existing point-based rendering techniques that are designed to work with high precision and high density point clouds. Our new algorithm – view-dependent textured splatting (VDTS) – combines traditional splatting with a view-dependent texturing strategy to reduce rendering artifacts caused by imprecision or noise in the input data.VDTS requires no pre-processing of input data, addresses texture aliasing, and most importantly, processes texture visibility on-the-fly. The combination of these characteristics makes VDTS well-suited for interactive rendering of dynamic scenes. Towards this end, we present a real-time view acquisition and rendering system to demonstrate the effectiveness of VDTS. In addition, we show that VDTS can produce high quality rendering when the texture images are augmented with per-pixel depth. In this scenario, VDTS is a reasonable alternative for interactive rendering of large CG models.     

用于体绘制的可变模板法

作为投影成象的的一种重要方法，模板法在规则场的体绘制中取得了好的效果，然而，传统模板法要求样点的大小和形状一致，限制了其在曲线结构数据场和非规则数据场体绘制中的应用，因为这类场中样点的大小和形状变化很大。当前非规则场或曲线结构数据场中的体绘制计算复杂、成象速度很慢，严重影响了可视化的效率，本文提出了一种可变模板法，不受样点大小必须一致的限制，使得模板法能在曲线结构数据场和非规则场的体绘制中发挥充分     

Efficient image reconstruction for point-based and line-based rendering

We address the problem of an efficient image-space reconstruction of adaptively sampled scenes in the context of point-based and line-based graphics. The image-space reconstruction offers an advantageous time complexity compared to surface splatting techniques and, in fact, our improved GPU implementation performs significantly better than splatting implementations for large point-based models. We discuss the integration of elliptical Gaussian weights for enhanced image quality and generalize the image-space reconstruction to line segments. Furthermore, we present solutions for the efficient combination of points, lines, and polygons in a single image.     

Hardware-assisted visibility sorting for unstructured volume rendering

Harvesting the power of modern graphics hardware to solve the complex problem of real-time rendering of large unstructured meshes is a major research goal in the volume visualization community. While, for regular grids, texture-based techniques are well-suited for current GPUs, the steps necessary for rendering unstructured meshes are not so easily mapped to current hardware. We propose a novel volume rendering technique that simplifies the CPU-based processing and shifts much of the sorting burden to the GPU, where it can be performed more efficiently. Our hardware-assisted visibility sorting algorithm is a hybrid technique that operates in both object-space and image-space. In object-space, the algorithm performs a partial sort of the 3D primitives in preparation for rasterization. The goal of the partial sort is to create a list of primitives that generate fragments in nearly sorted order. In image-space, the fragment stream is incrementally sorted using a fixed-depth sorting network. In our algorithm, the object-space work is performed by the CPU and the fragment-level sorting is done completely on the GPU. A prototype implementation of the algorithm demonstrates that the fragment-level sorting achieves rendering rates of between one and six million tetrahedral cells per second on an ATI Radeon 9800.     

层次结构辐射度渲染中的可见性测试

在辐射度渲染等整体光照模型中，可见性测试是影响整体性能的关键，为了获得较好的可见性测试效果，在光线投射方法基础上，对可见性测试方法做了如下两方面的优化，一方面引入Shaft Culling算法，作首轮筛选，以提高线投射的效率，另一方面，在可见性测试和自适应分割时，进行基于可见性的分割，以保证只有完全可见和完全不可见两种情况，这两方面优化都被引入到层次结构辐射度渲染的实现中，实验结果表明，改进过的可见性测试，不仅减少了计算量和误差，还保证了阴影边界的质量。     

Image-space visibility ordering for cell projection volume rendering of unstructured data

Projection methods for volume rendering unstructured data work by projecting, in visibility order, the polyhedral cells of the mesh onto the image plane, and incrementally compositing each cell's color and opacity into the final image. Normally, such methods require an algorithm to determine a visibility order of the cells. The meshed polyhedra visibility order (MPVO) algorithm can provide such an order for convex meshes by considering the implications of local ordering relations between cells sharing a common face. However, in nonconvex meshes, one must also consider ordering relations along viewing rays which cross empty space between cells. In order to include these relations, the algorithm described in this paper, the scanning exact meshed polyhedra visibility ordering (SXMPVO) algorithm, scan-converts the exterior faces of the mesh and saves the ray-face intersections in an A-buffer data structure which is then used for retrieving the extra ordering relations. The image which SXMPVO produces is the same as would be produced by ordering the cells exactly, even though SXMPVO does not compute an exact visibility ordering. This is because the image resolution used for computing the visibility ordering relations is the same as that which is used for the actual volume rendering and we choose our A-buffer rays at the same sample points that are used to establish a polygon's pixel coverage during hardware scan conversion. Thus, the algorithm is image-space correct. The SXMPVO algorithm has several desirable features; among them are speed, simplicity of implementation, and no extra (i.e., with respect to MPVO) preprocessing.     

Fast vector quantization for efficient rendering of compressed point-clouds

We present a point-cloud compression algorithm that allows fast parallel decompression on the GPU suitable for interactive applications. The algorithm is based on vector quantization of an atlas of height-fields that have been sampled over primitive shapes which approximate the geometry. We introduce novel vector quantization acceleration techniques to facilitate fast compression as well. We achieve bitrates of less than four bits per normal-equipped point. Our method enables hole-free level-of-detail point rendering. We also show that using only up to two bits per point, high-quality renderings can still be obtained if normals are estimated in image-space. Even lower bitrates are obtained for storage on disk if arithmetic coding is used.     

A high accuracy volume renderer for unstructured data

This paper describes a volume rendering system for unstructured data, especially finite element data, that creates images with very high accuracy. The system will currently handle meshes whose cells are either linear or quadratic tetrahedra. Compromises or approximations are not introduced for the sake of efficiency. Whenever possible, exact mathematical solutions for the radiance integrals involved and for interpolation are used. The system will also handle meshes with mixed cell types: tetrahedra, bricks, prisms, wedges, and pyramids, but not with high accuracy. Accurate semi-transparent shaded isosurfaces may be embedded in the volume rendering. For very small cells, subpixel accumulation by splatting is used to avoid sampling error. A revision to an existing accurate visibility ordering algorithm is described, which includes a correction and a method for dramatically increasing its efficiency. Finally, hardware assisted projection and compositing are extended from tetrahedra to arbitrary convex polyhedra     

GPU上的水彩画风格实时渲染及动画绘制

论文提出了一种基于GPU 的对三维场景进行实时水彩画效果渲染的方法。 该方法的大部分过程使用图像空间的技术实现。算法将画面分为细节层、环境层、笔触层分 别渲染,再进行合成。在过程中使用环境遮挡、shadow mapping 等技术进行快速的阴影计算, 并使用图像滤镜的方法模拟水彩的多种主要特征。由于该方法以图像空间的技术为主,因此 可以利用GPU 并行处理的特点对计算过程进行加速,进而达到实时的渲染速度。最后建立 动画脚本分析系统,进行实时动画渲染,表明该方法在计算机动画、游戏等数字娱乐产业领 域有较大的应用潜力。     

CHC++: Coherent Hierarchical Culling Revisited

We present a new algorithm for efficient occlusion culling using hardware occlusion queries. The algorithm significantly improves on previous techniques by making better use of temporal and spatial coherence of visibility. This is achieved by using adaptive visibility prediction and query batching. As a result of the new optimizations the number of issued occlusion queries and the number of rendering state changes are significantly reduced. We also propose a simple method for determining tighter bounding volumes for occlusion queries and a method which further reduces the pipeline stalls. The proposed method provides up to an order of magnitude speedup over the previous state of the art. The new technique is simple to implement, does not rely on hardware calibration and integrates well with modern game engines.     

Real-time rendering of deformable heterogeneous translucent objects using multiresolution splatting

In this paper, we present a novel real-time rendering algorithm for heterogenous translucent objects with deformable geometry. The proposed method starts by rendering the surface geometry in two separate geometry buffers—the irradiance buffer and the splatting buffer—with corresponding mipmaps from the lighting and viewing directions, respectively. Irradiance samples are selected from the irradiance buffer according to geometric and material properties using a novel and fast selection algorithm. Next, we gather the irradiance per visible surface point by splatting the irradiance samples to the splatting buffer. To compute the appearance of long-distance low-frequency subsurface scattering, as well as short-range detailed scattering, a fast novel multiresolution GPU algorithm is developed that computes everything on the fly and which does not require any precomputations. We illustrate the effectiveness of our method on several deformable geometries with measured heterogeneous translucent materials.     

Motion Blur for EWA Surface Splatting

This paper presents a novel framework for elliptical weighted average (EWA) surface splatting with time‐varying scenes. We extend the theoretical basis of the original framework by replacing the 2D surface reconstruction filters by 3D kernels which unify the spatial and temporal component of moving objects. Based on the newly derived mathematical framework we introduce a rendering algorithm that supports the generation of high‐quality motion blur for point‐based objects using a piecewise linear approximation of the motion. The rendering algorithm applies ellipsoids as rendering primitives which are constructed by extending planar EWA surface splats into the temporal dimension along the instantaneous motion vector. Finally, we present an implementation of the proposed rendering algorithm with approximated occlusion handling using advanced features of modern GPUs and show its capability of producing motion‐blurred result images at interactive frame rates.     

一种基于OC的大规模场景可视化算法

为了实现大规模三维场景的有效剔除,在简要分析了已有可视化算法之后,提出了一个完整的采用遮挡剔除的场景可视化算法.首先使用八叉树对场景进行组织和管理,接着在生成层次遮挡图的基础上,对潜在被遮挡体进行覆盖测试,并提出了可以较早结束测试的方法,随后根据硬件遮挡查询的结果将物体送往渲染.最后给出了一种基于开放图形引擎OGRE(Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine)的实现架构以及算法特点分析.     

Dynamic surfel set refinement for high-quality rendering

Splatting-based rendering techniques are currently the best choice for efficient high-quality rendering of point-based geometries. However, such techniques are not suitable for large magnification, especially when the object is under-sampled. This paper improves the rendering quality of pure splatting techniques using a fast dynamic up-sampling algorithm for point-based geometry. Our algorithm is inspired by interpolatory subdivision surfaces where the geometry is refined iteratively. At each step the refined geometry is that from the previous step enriched by a new set of points. The point insertion procedure uses three operators: a local neighborhood selection operator, a refinement operator (adding new points) and a smoothing operator. Even though our insertion procedure makes the analysis of the limit surface complicated and it does not guarantee its G¹ continuity, it remains very efficient for high-quality real-time point rendering. Indeed, while providing an increased rendering quality, especially for large magnification, our algorithm needs no other preprocessing nor any additional information beyond that used by any splatting technique. This extended version (Real-time point cloud refinement, in: Proceedings of Eurographics Symposium on Point-Based Graphic, 2004, pp. 41.) contains details on creases handling and more comparison to other smoothing operators.     

Shadows and soft shadows with participating media using splatting

This paper describes an efficient algorithm to model the light attenuation due to a participating media with low albedo. Here, we consider the light attenuation along a ray, as well as the light attenuation emanating from a surface. The light attenuation is modeled using a splatting volume renderer for both the viewer and the light source. During the rendering, a 2D shadow buffer accumulates the light attenuation. We first summarize the basic shadow algorithm using splatting. Then, an extension of the basic shadow algorithm for projective textured light sources is described. The main part of this paper is an analytic soft shadow algorithm based on convolution techniques. We describe and discuss the soft shadow algorithm, and generate soft shadows, including umbra and penumbra, for extended light sources.