Ray Tracing Acceleration Data Structure Coordinate Update
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ray tracing techniques in graphics processors are computationally expensive, leading to performance issues in rendering realistic scenes with complex lighting effects.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a spatially-organized ray tracing acceleration data structure (ADS) that dynamically forms SIMD groups for primitive testing and ray coordinate transformation, optimizing the traversal of the ADS and reducing the number of ray-surface intersection tests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional ray tracing techniques are used to render realistic scenes with complex lighting effects, then rendering quality and realism are improved, but computational cost and processing time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the acceleration data structure into multiple levels (e.g., coarse level and fine level) with different resolutions. Rays are first tested against the coarse level structure to quickly eliminate non-intersecting regions, then only promising rays proceed to the fine level for accurate intersection testing. This hierarchical segmentation reduces the average number of intersection tests per ray while maintaining rendering quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary coarse-level intersection testing before conducting detailed fine-level intersection testing. By pre-filtering rays at the coarse level, the system identifies and processes only those rays that are likely to intersect with scene primitives, thereby reducing the total computational workload for accurate rendering without sacrificing visual fidelity.
2Reliability
If the number of ray-surface intersection tests is increased to improve rendering accuracy, then rendering quality is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hierarchical acceleration data structure divides the scene into coarse and fine levels, allowing the system to perform fewer expensive fine-level intersection tests by first filtering at the coarse level. This reduces the total number of intersection tests required to achieve a given rendering accuracy, thereby lowering power consumption while maintaining visual quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by performing intersection tests only at the level of detail necessary for each ray. Rays that are clearly miss at the coarse level require no fine-level testing, while only rays that pass the coarse test proceed to fine-level testing. This selective application of testing effort reduces overall computational cost and power consumption while maintaining rendering accuracy where needed.
3Reliability
If comprehensive ray tracing operations are performed to capture all lighting effects, then rendering realism is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a two-level acceleration data structure where coarse-level bounding volumes provide quick rejection of rays that do not intersect with any primitives, and fine-level structures provide accurate intersection information only when needed. This segmentation enables comprehensive lighting effects to be computed only for relevant rays, reducing processing time while maintaining rendering realism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary coarse-level culling to identify only those rays that require detailed processing. By pre-filtering the ray set at the coarse level, the patent reduces the number of rays that proceed to expensive fine-level intersection testing and subsequent lighting calculations, thereby reducing overall processing time while still capturing all necessary lighting effects for the visible scene.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed techniques relate to traversal techniques for ray tracing. In some embodiments, ray intersect circuitry receives a ray intersect request that indicates origin and direction information for a ray in a graphics scene. The ray intersect circuitry may traverse multiple nodes of a spatially organized acceleration data structure, wherein a given node of the multiple nodes indicates coordinates corresponding to a bounding region of the graphics scene. In response to detection that the ray intersects with a first bounding volume, the ray intersect circuitry stores a local parametric value for the ray that indicates a point at which the ray intersected the first bounding volume and may use the local parametric value as an origin value of the ray for one or more intersection tests between the ray and one or more child bounding volumes of the first bounding volume.