3-D graphics rendering with implicit geometry

A ray tracing system for rendering an image of a 3-D scene, the system comprising:

• one or more computational cores configured to:
• receive explicitly-defined geometry, associated with procedural information that when executed defines an extent of implicitly-defined geometry,
• execute the procedural information to produce finalised implicit geometry,
• define a bounding box element for the finalised implicit geometry,
• produce an acceleration structure that comprises the defined bounding box element, which places the defined bounding box element in a 3-D scene,
• store the acceleration structure on a machine readable medium, and
• one or more test cells configured to traverse the acceleration structure, during rendering, with a ray in order to identify a closest intersection for the ray with either implicitly-defined geometry or explicitly-defined geometry located in the 3-D scene;
• wherein the ray tracing system is configured to use the identified closest intersection for the ray for rendering an image of the scene.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of preparing to produce a rendering of a 3-D scene, comprising:

• receiving explicitly-defined geometry, associated with procedural information that when executed defines an extent of implicitly-defined geometry;
• executing the procedural information to produce finalised implicit geometry;
• defining a bounding box element for the finalised implicit geometry;
• producing an acceleration structure that comprises the defined bounding box element, which places the defined bounding box element in a 3-D scene;
• storing the acceleration structure on a machine readable medium;
• and
• traversing the acceleration structure, during rendering, with a ray in order to identify a closest intersection for the ray with either implicitly-defined geometry or explicitly-defined geometry located in the 3-D scene.