Cooperative utilization of spatial indices between application and rendering hardware
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJeffrey Douglas Brown, Russell Dean Hoover, Eric Oliver Mejdrich, Robert Allen Shearer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to embodiments of the invention, a data structure may be created which may be used by both a ray tracing unit and by a rendering engine. The data structure may have an initial or upper portion representing bounding volumes which partition a three-dimensional scene and a second or lower portion representing objects within the three-dimensional scene. The integrated acceleration data structure may be used by a rendering engine to render a two-dimensional image from a three-dimensional scene, and by a ray tracing unit to perform intersection tests.
Claims18
A method of using an integrated acceleration data structure, comprising:
- with a first processing element:
- issuing a ray into a three-dimensional scene, and
- traversing the integrated acceleration data structure, by one or more computer processors, by taking branches to bounding volume nodes intersected by the ray until an object node is reached, wherein the bounding volume nodes define volumes of the three-dimensional scene;
- and
- with a second processing element, rendering objects by searching the integrated acceleration data structure for object nodes containing attributes of the objects, wherein the attributes are stored within the integrated acceleration data structure.
A computer readable non-transitory medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation, comprising:
- with a first processing element:
- issuing a ray into a three-dimensional scene, and
- traversing an integrated acceleration data structure by taking branches to bounding volume nodes intersected by the ray until an object node is reached, wherein the bounding volume nodes define volumes of the three-dimensional scene;
- and
- with a second processing element, rendering objects by searching the integrated acceleration data structure for object nodes containing attributes of the objects, wherein the attributes are stored within the integrated acceleration data structure.
A system, comprising:
- an integrated acceleration data structure, wherein the integrated acceleration data structure comprises bounding volume nodes which define bounding volumes of a three-dimensional scene and object nodes which define objects located within the three-dimensional scene;
- a first processing element configured to:
- issue a ray into the three-dimensional scene, and
- traverse the integrated acceleration data structure by taking branches to bounding volume nodes intersected by the ray;
- and
- a second processing element configured to render objects by searching the integrated acceleration data structure for object nodes containing attributes of the objects, wherein the attributes are stored within the integrated acceleration data structure, wherein the second processing element comprises hardware elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.