Ray Tracing Data Structure Construction via Hierarchical Quicksort
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ray tracing algorithms in computer graphics are inefficient for complex scenes, as they require rebuilding data structures from scratch in dynamic environments, which is time-consuming and inferior to traditional methods, especially when using incremental updates.
Innovation Solution
The method involves building high-quality ray tracing data structures by accessing an initial coarse hierarchy, sorting elements into spatial partitions using hierarchical quicksort, and storing them in structures like k-dimensional trees or bounding interval hierarchies, allowing for accelerated construction and rebuilding during interactive graphics applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data structures are rebuilt from scratch in dynamic environments, then data structure quality is maintained, but construction time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by maintaining a coarse hierarchy data structure that is continuously updated in the background before ray tracing queries are needed. This pre-computed coarse structure serves as a foundation that can be quickly refined rather than rebuilt from scratch, reducing construction time while maintaining quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the data structure construction into two parts: a coarse hierarchy that is maintained continuously and updated incrementally, and a fine hierarchy that is constructed on-demand from the coarse structure. This segmentation allows the time-consuming parts to be done preliminarily while keeping the final construction fast
2Measurement precision
If traditional ray tracing algorithms are used for complex scenes, then rendering accuracy is maintained, but rendering performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the scene representation into coarse and fine hierarchies. The coarse hierarchy provides a simplified view for culling and broad-phase detection, while the fine hierarchy provides detailed geometry for accurate ray-triangle intersections. This segmentation maintains rendering accuracy while improving performance by avoiding unnecessary detailed computations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a hierarchical dimension to traditional ray tracing by organizing geometry into multi-level trees. Instead of treating all geometry at the same level, the algorithm traverses hierarchical levels from coarse to fine, adding a dimensional layer that enables efficient culling while preserving accurate intersection detection
3Loss of time
If incremental updates are used instead of rebuilding data structures, then construction time is reduced, but data structure quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by maintaining a coarse hierarchy that is continuously updated incrementally. This pre-computed structure serves as a quality foundation that preserves spatial relationships and geometric information, ensuring that when the fine hierarchy is constructed on-demand, it inherits the quality properties of the coarse structure
Solution Approach 2:
The coarse hierarchy acts as an intermediary between incremental updates and the final fine hierarchy. It mediates by preserving quality information from incremental updates and providing a structured foundation from which the fine hierarchy can be constructed, ensuring quality is not lost in the incremental update process
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for building ray tracing data structures for three-dimensional scenes. The methods may include accessing an initial data structure representing a coarse hierarchy of a scene geometry, e.g., a scene graph, and sorting elements of the initial data structure into multiple spatial partitions with respect to one or more splitting planes. The sorting may be dependent on spatial bounding ranges of non-leaf nodes of the initial data structure, which may be sorted without visiting the geometric primitives below. Sorting may be performed on pointers to elements of the initial data structure and may comprise a hierarchical quicksort. The resulting ray tracing data structure may comprise a k-dimensional tree, binary space partitioning tree, k-plane tree, bounding interval hierarchy, or fine-grained hierarchical bounding volume tree. The methods described herein may accelerate the building of ray tracing data structures for use in interactive graphics applications.