Distributed acceleration structures for ray tracing

A multiprocessing system of distributed acceleration structures for ray tracing, comprising:

• multiple general-purpose processors,
• multiple graphics processing units having a raster pipeline,
• a computer memory, and
• geometric data of a 3D scene divided into multiple cells;
• wherein for intersection tests between rays and the 3D scene
• a) a global acceleration structure of multiple cells is constructed;
• b) a local acceleration structure for each cell is constructed;
• c) primary rays are generated by rendering the 3D scene with the raster pipeline;
• d) for each primary ray the global acceleration structure is traversed finding a cell of intersection;
• and
• e) a hit point is registered at the cell of intersection;
• and
• for generating secondary hit points
• a) at each cell secondary rays are created originating at each primary hit point;
• and
• b) at each cell the local acceleration structure is traversed by each secondary ray seeking for hits with local objects;
• wherein in event of hit, radiance at the point of intersection is sampled, and diffuse radiance at ray's origin is calculated and registered;
• and
• wherein in event of no hit, the global acceleration structure is traversed seeking the next cell of hit for the ray.