Load-Balancing for Parallel Delaunay Triangulations

Computing the Delaunay triangulation (DT) of a given point set in $\mathbb{R}^D$ is one of the fundamental operations in computational geometry. Recently, Funke and Sanders (2017) presented a divide-and-conquer DT algorithm that merges two partial triangulations by re-triangulating a small subset of their vertices - the border vertices - and combining the three triangulations efficiently via parallel hash table lookups. The input point division should therefore yield roughly equal-sized partitions for good load-balancing and also result in a small number of border vertices for fast merging. In this paper, we present a novel divide-step based on partitioning the triangulation of a small sample of the input points. In experiments on synthetic and real-world data sets, we achieve nearly perfectly balanced partitions and small border triangulations. This almost cuts running time in half compared to non-data-sensitive division schemes on inputs exhibiting an exploitable underlying structure.Comment: Short version submitted to EuroPar 201

Quad Separation Algorithm for Bounding-Volume Hierarchies Construction in Virtual Environment Application

In order to perform fast collision detection technique in Virtual Environment Application, researchers need to maintain the behaviour of the object itself before the objects come into contact. By enhancing the speed of intersection using Bounding-Volume Hierarchies technique, it helps to reduce the complexity and speed up the intersection process. Thus, in this paper we presented our novel algorithm for constructing Bounding-Volume Hierarchies using Quad Splitting method. Together with the Quad Splitting method is the implementation of Spatial Object Median Splitting technique (SOMS) in order to create a well-balanced tree for the object. We believed the key of performing fast intersection between two or more objects in Virtual Environment Application required a well-balanced and proper tree technique for Bounding-Volume hierarchies

Bounding Volume Hierarchies for Collision Detection

In virtual environment world, performing collision detection between various 3D objects requires sophisticated steps to be followed in order to properly visualize their effect. It is challenging due to the fact that multiple objects undergo various motion depending on the application’s genre. It is however an essential challenge to be resolved since it’s many use in the computer animation, simulation and robotic industry. Thus, object intersection between rigid bodies has become one of the most important areas in order to bring realism to simulation and animation

Bounding Volume Hierarchies for Collision Detection

In virtual environment world, performing collision detection between various 3D objects requires sophisticated steps to be followed in order to properly visualize their effect. It is challenging due to the fact that multiple objects undergo various motion depending on the application’s genre. It is however an essential challenge to be resolved since it’s many use in the computer animation, simulation and robotic industry. Thus, object intersection between rigid bodies has become one of the most important areas in order to bring realism to simulation and animation

Sanal heykeltraşlıkta optimize edilmiş hash-temelli octree veri yapısının kullanılması

06.03.2018 tarihli ve 30352 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanan “Yükseköğretim Kanunu İle Bazı Kanun Ve Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamelerde Değişiklik Yapılması Hakkında Kanun” ile 18.06.2018 tarihli “Lisansüstü Tezlerin Elektronik Ortamda Toplanması, Düzenlenmesi ve Erişime Açılmasına İlişkin Yönerge” gereğince tam metin erişime açılmıştır.Sanal heykeltıraşlık, kullanıcılara sanat, tasarım ve hızlı prototipleme alanlarında sanal gerçeklik donanım ve yazılımları tarafından sağlanan bir sanal dünya içerisinde yeni 3B katı nesne oluşturma veya mevcut nesneleri değiştirebilme imkânı sağlayan 3B bir modelleme işlemidir. Bu tez çalışmasında haptic kuvvet geri-beslemesi ile voksel-temelli bir sanal heykeltıraşlık uygulaması için optimize edilmiş hash-temelli bir octree veri yapısı kullanımı önerilmektedir. Amaç, hacim voksel veri kümesini saklamak için gerekli hafızayı ve hesaplama maliyetini düşürmek, aynı zamanda da gerçek-zamanda etkileşim esnasında gerçekleşen octree kullanımından doğan ağaç dolanım süresini azaltarak model yüzeyinin lokal olarak yeniden oluşturulma süresini kısaltmaktır. İlk önce, üzerinde çalışılan sanal ham maddeye ait hacim verisi daha az hafıza kullanarak saklayabilmek ve gerçek-zamanda yontabilmek amacıyla vokselleştirilerek optimize-edilmiş hash-temelli bir octree veri yapısına dönüştürülmektedir. Daha sonra, küre olarak tasarlanan sanal araç tarafından heykelin hangi voksellerine dokunulduğu belirlenerek bu vokseller veri yapısından çıkarılmaktadır. Sonuç verisine gerçekçi bir görüntü verebilmek amacıyla üçgen kafes modelini yeniden oluşturmak için Marching Cubes algoritması kullanılmaktadır. Tüm hacim için hesaplama maliyeti yüksek olduğundan dolayı bu çalışmada sadece yontma işleminden sonra modifiye edilen vokseller tarafından etkilenen eş yüzey yeniden hesaplanarak lokal güncelleme gerçekleştirildi. İkinci olarak, önerilen sanal heykeltıraşlık sistemine, sanal yontma aracının üç-boyutlu kontrolünü sağlamak ve kullanıcıların yontma işlemi sırasında heykel üzerinde uyguladıkları kuvvete karşı meydana gelen direnci hissedebilmelerine imkan sağlamak amacıyla bir haptic cihazı yolu ile haptic kuvvet-geri beslemesi entegre edilmiştir. Sanal heykeltıraşlıkta hafıza optimizasyonu ve gerçek-zaman etkileşimi üzerine odaklanılan bu çalışmada, önerilen optimize edilmiş hash-temelli octree veri yapısının performansını test etmek amacıyla hafıza maliyetleri ve çalışma süreleri, işaretçi-temelli ve hash temelli veri yapıları ile karşılaştırılmıştır. Sonuç olarak, bu yeni optimize edilmiş hash-temelli octree veri yapısının hem ön-işleme zamanında hem de gerçek zamanda hafıza maliyetleri ve çalışma sürelerindeki düşüşler gösterilmiştir. Anahtar kelimeler: Sanal Heykeltaşlık, Haptics, Vokselleştirme, Octree, HashingVirtual sculpting is a 3D modelling process which allows users to create new 3D solid models or modify existing objects provided by virtual reality software and hardware in art, design and rapid prototyping areas. In this thesis, an optimized hash-based octree data structure in a voxel-based virtual sculpting application with haptic force feedback is proposed. The goal is to reduce the memory and computation costs to store volumetric voxel dataset and also to reduce the local surface reconstruction times of the model by decreasing tree traversal time caused by octree during real-time interaction. First, in order to store with less memory and carve in real-time, volumetric data of virtual workpiece is converted into an optimized hash-based octree data structure by voxelizing them. Then, voxels collided with the carving tool that is designed as a sphere are removed from this data structure. Marching Cubes algorithm is used to reconstruct the triangular mesh model in order to give a realistic display of the voxel data. Since the computational cost is very high for the whole volume, in this study, local update is performed by reconstructing the isosurface affected from the modified voxels after carving process. Afterwards, by the way of a haptic device, a haptic force feedback is integrated in the proposed virtual sculpting application in order to provide 3D control of the virtual tool and allow to feel the resistance against the applied force on the sculpture object. This study focused on memory optimization and real-time interaction, memory costs and runtimes of the proposed optimized hash-based octree data structure are compared with the pointer-based and hash-based ones in order to test the performance. Consequently, memory cost and working time decreases on both pre-processing and runtime of this new optimized hash-based octree data structure are shown. Keywords: Virtual Sculpting, Haptics, Voxelization, Octree, Hashin

Interactive web-based visualization

The visualization of large amounts of data, which cannot be easily copied for processing on a user’s local machine, is not yet a fully solved problem. Remote visualization represents one possible solution approach to the problem, and has long been an important research topic. Depending on the device used, modern hardware, such as high-performance GPUs, is sometimes not available. This is another reason for the use of remote visualization. Additionally, due to the growing global networking and collaboration among research groups, collaborative remote visualization solutions are becoming more important. The additional use of collaborative visualization solutions is eventually due to the growing global networking and collaboration among research groups. The attractiveness of web-based remote visualization is greatly increased by the wide availability of web browsers on almost all devices; these are available today on all systems - from desktop computers to smartphones. In order to ensure interactivity, network bandwidth and latency are the biggest challenges that web-based visualization algorithms have to solve. Despite the steady improvements in available bandwidth, these improvements are still significantly slower than, for example, processor performance, resulting in increasing the impact of this bottleneck. For example, visualization of large dynamic data in low-bandwidth environments can be challenging because it requires continuous data transfer. However, bandwidth improvement alone cannot improve the latency because it is also affected by factors such as the distance between server and client and network utilization. To overcome these challenges, a combination of techniques is needed to customize the individual processing steps of the visualization pipeline, from efficient data representation to hardware-accelerated rendering on the client side. This thesis first deals with related work in the field of remote visualization with a particular focus on interactive web-based visualization and then presents techniques for interactive visualization in the browser using modern web standards such as WebGL and HTML5. These techniques enable the visualization of dynamic molecular data sets with more than one million atoms at interactive frame rates using GPU-based ray casting. Due to the limitations which exist in a browser-based environment, the concrete implementation of the GPU-based ray casting had to be customized. Evaluation of the resulting performance shows that GPU-based techniques enable the interactive rendering of large data sets and achieve higher image quality compared to polygon-based techniques. In order to reduce data transfer times and network latency, and improve rendering speed, efficient approaches for data representation and transmission are used. Furthermore, this thesis introduces a GPU-based volume-ray marching technique based on WebGL 2.0, which uses progressive brick-wise data transfer, as well as multiple levels of detail in order to achieve interactive volume rendering of datasets stored on a server. The concepts and results presented in this thesis contribute to the further spread of interactive web-based visualization. The algorithmic and technological advances that have been achieved form a basis for further development of interactive browser-based visualization applications. At the same time, this approach has the potential for enabling future collaborative visualization in the cloud.Die Visualisierung großer Datenmengen, welche nicht ohne Weiteres zur Verarbeitung auf den lokalen Rechner des Anwenders kopiert werden können, ist ein bisher nicht zufriedenstellend gelöstes Problem. Remote-Visualisierung stellt einen möglichen Lösungsansatz dar und ist deshalb seit langem ein relevantes Forschungsthema. Abhängig vom verwendeten Endgerät ist moderne Hardware, wie etwa performante GPUs, teilweise nicht verfügbar. Dies ist ein weiterer Grund für den Einsatz von Remote-Visualisierung. Durch die zunehmende globale Vernetzung und Kollaboration von Forschungsgruppen gewinnt kollaborative Remote-Visualisierung zusätzlich an Bedeutung. Die Attraktivität web-basierter Remote-Visualisierung wird durch die weitreichende Verfügbarkeit von Web-Browsern auf nahezu allen Endgeräten enorm gesteigert; diese sind heutzutage auf allen Systemen - vom Desktop-Computer bis zum Smartphone - vorhanden. Bei der Gewährleistung der Interaktivität sind Bandbreite und Latenz der Netzwerkverbindung die größten Herausforderungen, welche von web-basierten Visualisierungs-Algorithmen gelöst werden müssen. Trotz der stetigen Verbesserungen hinsichtlich der verfügbaren Bandbreite steigt diese signifikant langsamer als beispielsweise die Prozessorleistung, wodurch sich die Auswirkung dieses Flaschenhalses immer weiter verstärkt. So kann beispielsweise die Visualisierung großer dynamischer Daten in Umgebungen mit geringer Bandbreite eine Herausforderung darstellen, da kontinuierlicher Datentransfer benötigt wird. Dennoch kann die alleinige Verbesserung der Bandbreite keine entsprechende Verbesserung der Latenz bewirken, da diese zudem von Faktoren wie der Distanz zwischen Server und Client sowie der Netzwerkauslastung beeinflusst wird. Um diese Herausforderungen zu bewältigen, wird eine Kombination verschiedener Techniken für die Anpassung der einzelnen Verarbeitungsschritte der Visualisierungspipeline benötigt, angefangen bei effizienter Datenrepräsentation bis hin zu hardware-beschleunigtem Rendering auf der Client-Seite. Diese Doktorarbeit befasst sich zunächst mit verwandten Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der Remote-Visualisierung mit besonderem Fokus auf interaktiver web-basierter Visualisierung und präsentiert danach Techniken für die interaktive Visualisierung im Browser mit Hilfe moderner Web-Standards wie WebGL und HTML5. Diese Techniken ermöglichen die Visualisierung dynamischer molekularer Datensätze mit mehr als einer Million Atomen bei interaktiven Frameraten durch die Verwendung GPU-basierten Raycastings. Aufgrund der Einschränkungen, welche in einer Browser-basierten Umgebung vorliegen, musste die konkrete Implementierung des GPU-basierten Raycastings angepasst werden. Die Evaluation der daraus resultierenden Performanz zeigt, dass GPU-basierte Techniken das interaktive Rendering von großen Datensätzen ermöglichen und eine im Vergleich zu Polygon-basierten Techniken höhere Bildqualität erreichen. Zur Verringerung der Übertragungszeiten, Reduktion der Latenz und Verbesserung der Darstellungsgeschwindigkeit werden effiziente Ansätze zur Datenrepräsentation und übertragung verwendet. Des Weiteren wird in dieser Doktorarbeit eine GPU-basierte Volumen-Ray-Marching-Technik auf Basis von WebGL 2.0 eingeführt, welche progressive blockweise Datenübertragung verwendet, sowie verschiedene Detailgrade, um ein interaktives Volumenrendering von auf dem Server gespeicherten Datensätzen zu erreichen. Die in dieser Doktorarbeit präsentierten Konzepte und Resultate tragen zur weiteren Verbreitung von interaktiver web-basierter Visualisierung bei. Die erzielten algorithmischen und technologischen Fortschritte bilden eine Grundlage für weiterführende Entwicklungen von interaktiven Visualisierungsanwendungen auf Browser-Basis. Gleichzeitig hat dieser Ansatz das Potential, zukünftig kollaborative Visualisierung in der Cloud zu ermöglichen

On faster sphere-box overlap testing

We present faster overlap tests between spheres and either axis-aligned or oriented boxes. By utilizing quick rejection tests, faster execution times are observed compared to previous techniques. In addition, we present alternative vectorized overlap tests, which are compared to the sequential algorithms. Source code is available online