Hands-on study on Vulkan and the hardware ray-tracing extensions

The new GPUs from Nvidia and AMD include hardware ray-tracing acceleration units that enable regular consumer computers to be capable of drawing 3D scenes in a more realistic way than by simple rasterization. Rasterization is limited among other things by the fact that drawing is always made in the local context of every object in the scene, while ray-tracing is performed on the whole scene. The access to these hardware ray-tracing units by the programmer is by means of the new "RTX" extensions that have been released by the Khronos Group for their Vulkan API, the lower level successor to the industry-standard OpenGL. So it may be time to bite the bullet, leave the comfort of OpenGL behind, and start learning the API of it's successor and how it engages with the new RTX extensions. This text attempts to give you some general guidance to aid in learning the Vulkan API, a small introduction in how ray-tracing works, how this new hardware handles it, and the new type of shaders required to be supplied to the GPU for the calculations and drawing. Then, finally, a small ray-tracer is put together in order to create some 3D scenes showing some of the interesting new capabilities that are difficult or impossible to achieve by means of rasterization: Shadows, reflections, and refraction of the light rays, along with measuring and providing the frames per second achieved with the employed hardware configuration while drawing each of them.Las nuevas GPU de Nvidia y AMD incluyen unidades de aceleración de trazado de rayos de hardware que permiten que las computadoras de consumo normales sean capaces de dibujar escenas en 3D de una manera más realista que mediante una simple rasterización. La rasterización está limitada, entre otras cosas, por el hecho de que el dibujo siempre se realiza en el contexto local de cada objeto de la escena, mientras que el trazado de rayos se realiza en la escena en general. El acceso a estas unidades de trazado de rayos de hardware por parte del programador se realiza mediante las nuevas extensiones "RTX" que Khronos Group ha lanzado para su API Vulkan, el sucesor de nivel inferior del estándar de la industria OpenGL. Por lo tanto, puede ser el momento de morder la bala, dejar atrás la comodidad de OpenGL y comenzar a aprender la API de su sucesor y cómo se relaciona con el nuevo RTX extensiones. Este texto intenta brindarle una guía general para ayudarlo a aprender la API de Vulkan, una pequeña introducción sobre cómo funciona el trazado de rayos, cómo lo maneja este nuevo hardware y el nuevo tipo de sombreadores que se deben suministrar a la GPU para los cálculos y dibujo. Luego, finalmente, se ensambla un pequeño trazador de rayos para crear algunas escenas en 3D que muestran algunas de las nuevas e interesantes capacidades difíciles o imposibles de conseguir mediante rasterización: sombras, reflejos y refracción de los rayos de luz, además de medir y proporcionar los fotogramas por segundo conseguidos con la configuración hardware empleada al dibujar cada uno de ellos.Les noves GPU de Nvidia i AMD inclouen unitats d'acceleració de traçat de raigs de maquinari que permeten que els ordinadors de consum normals siguin capaços de dibuixar escenes en 3D d'una manera més realista que mitjançant una simple rasterización. La rasterització està limitada, entre altres coses, pel fet que el dibuix sempre es realitza en el context local de cada objecte de l'escena, mentre que el traçat de raigs es realitza en l'escena en general. L'accés a aquestes unitats de traçat de raigs de maquinari per part de l'programador es realitza mitjançant les noves extensions "RTX" que Khronos Group ha llançat per a la seva API Vulkan, el successor de nivell inferior de l'estàndard de la indústria OpenGL. Per tant, pot ser el moment de mossegar la bala, deixar enrere la comoditat d'OpenGL i començar a aprendre l'API del seu successor i com es relaciona amb el nou RTX extensions. Aquest text intenta brindar-li una guia general per ajudar-lo a aprendre l'API de Vulkan, una petita introducció sobre com funciona el traçat de raigs, com ho maneja aquest nou maquinari i el nou tipus de ombrejadors que s'han de subministrar a la GPU per als càlculs i dibuix. Després, finalment, s'acobla un petit traçador de raigs per crear algunes escenes en 3D que mostren algunes de les noves i interessants capacitats difícils o impossibles d'aconseguir mitjançant rasterización: ombres, reflexos i refracció dels raigs de llum, a més de mesurar i proporcionar els fotogrames per segon aconseguits amb la configuració del maquinari emprada al dibuixar cada un d'ells

Kolmiulotteisten tietokoneavusteisten mallien yksinkertaistaminen renderoinnin nopeuttamiseksi

Visualization of three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design model is an integral part of the design process. Large assemblies such as plant or building designs contain a substantial amount of geometric data. New constraints for visualization performance and the amount of geometric data are set by the advent of mobile devices and virtual reality headsets. Our goal is to improve visualization performance and reduce memory consumption by simplifying 3D models while retaining the output simplification quality stable regardless of the geometric complexity of the input mesh. We research the current state of 3D mesh simplification methods that use geometry decimation. We design and implement our own data structure for geometry decimation. Based on the existing research, we select and use an edge decimation method for model simplification. In order to free the user from configuring edge decimation level per model by hand, and to retain a stable quality of the simplification output, we propose a threshold parameter, \textit{edge decimation cost threshold}. The threshold is calculated by multiplying the length of the model’s bounding box diagonal with a user-defined scale parameter. Our results show that the edge decimation cost threshold works as expected. The geometry decimation algorithm manages to simplify models with round surfaces with an excellent simplification rate. Based on the edge decimation cost threshold, the algorithm terminates the geometry decimation for models that have a large number of planar surfaces. Without the threshold, the simplification leads to large geometric errors quickly. The visualization performance improvement from the simplification scales almost at the same rate as the simplification rate

Ray Tracing Gems

This book is a must-have for anyone serious about rendering in real time. With the announcement of new ray tracing APIs and hardware to support them, developers can easily create real-time applications with ray tracing as a core component. As ray tracing on the GPU becomes faster, it will play a more central role in real-time rendering. Ray Tracing Gems provides key building blocks for developers of games, architectural applications, visualizations, and more. Experts in rendering share their knowledge by explaining everything from nitty-gritty techniques that will improve any ray tracer to mastery of the new capabilities of current and future hardware. What you'll learn: The latest ray tracing techniques for developing real-time applications in multiple domains Guidance, advice, and best practices for rendering applications with Microsoft DirectX Raytracing (DXR) How to implement high-performance graphics for interactive visualizations, games, simulations, and more Who this book is for: Developers who are looking to leverage the latest APIs and GPU technology for real-time rendering and ray tracing Students looking to learn about best practices in these areas Enthusiasts who want to understand and experiment with their new GPU

Ray tracing techniques for computer games and isosurface visualization

Ray tracing is a powerful image synthesis technique, that has been used for high-quality offline rendering since decades. In recent years, this technique has become more important for realtime applications, but still plays only a minor role in many areas. Some of the reasons are that ray tracing is compute intensive and has to rely on preprocessed data structures to achieve fast performance. This dissertation investigates methods to broaden the applicability of ray tracing and is divided into two parts. The first part explores the opportunities offered by ray tracing based game technology in the context of current and expected future performance levels. In this regard, novel methods are developed to efficiently support certain kinds of dynamic scenes, while avoiding the burden to fully recompute the required data structures. Furthermore, todays ray tracing performance levels are below what is needed for 3D games. Therefore, the multi-core CPU of the Playstation 3 is investigated, and an optimized ray tracing architecture presented to take steps towards the required performance. In part two, the focus shifts to isosurface raytracing. Isosurfaces are particularly important to understand the distribution of certain values in volumetric data. Since the structure of volumetric data sets is diverse, op- timized algorithms and data structures are developed for rectilinear as well as unstructured data sets which allow for realtime rendering of isosurfaces including advanced shading and visualization effects. This also includes tech- niques for out-of-core and time-varying data sets.Ray-tracing ist ein flexibles Bildgebungsverfahren, das schon seit Jahrzehnten für hoch qualitative, aber langsame Bilderzeugung genutzt wird. In den letzten Jahren wurde Ray-tracing auch für Echtzeitanwendungen immer interessanter, spielt aber in vielen Anwendungsbereichen noch immer eine untergeordnete Rolle. Einige der Gründe sind die Rechenintensität von Ray-tracing sowie die Abhängigkeit von vorberechneten Datenstrukturen um hohe Geschwindigkeiten zu erreichen. Diese Dissertation untersucht Methoden um die Anwendbarkeit von Ray-tracing in zwei verschiedenen Bereichen zu erhöhen. Im ersten Teil dieser Dissertation werden die Möglichkeiten, die Ray- tracing basierte Spieletechnologie bietet, im Kontext mit aktueller sowie zukünftig erwarteten Geschwindigkeiten untersucht. Darüber hinaus werden in diesem Zusammenhang Methoden entwickelt um bestimmte zeitveränderliche Szenen darstellen zu können ohne die dafür benötigen Datenstrukturen von Grund auf neu erstellen zu müssen. Da die Geschwindigkeit von Ray-tracing für Spiele bisher nicht ausreichend ist, wird die Mehrkern- CPU der Playstation 3 untersucht, und ein optimiertes Ray-tracing System beschrieben, das Ray-tracing näher an die benötigte Geschwindigkeit heranbringt. Der zweite Teil beschäftigt sich mit der Darstellung von Isoflächen mittels Ray-tracing. Isoflächen sind insbesonders wichtig um die Verteilung einzelner Werte in volumetrischen Datensätzen zu verstehen. Da diese Datensätze verschieden strukturiert sein können, werden für gitterförmige und unstrukturierte Datensätze optimierte Algorithmen und Datenstrukturen entwickelt, die die Echtzeitdarstellung von Isoflächen erlauben. Dies beinhaltet auch Erweiterungen für extrem große und zeitveränderliche Datensätze