Ray-Tracing Scene Pre-Processing for Computational Load Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ray-tracing in image rendering is computationally expensive due to the need to test each virtual ray for intersection with numerous virtual objects and light sources, leading to high processing requirements, especially in scenes with many objects and light sources.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that pre-process the virtual scene by ray-tracing to detect and omit unnecessary virtual resources for rendering, using techniques like light source culling and bounding volume hierarchies to reduce the number of ray-tracing operations, thereby optimizing the rendering process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If ray-tracing is performed for all virtual objects and light sources, then rendering accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational load increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing a pre-processing phase where a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) is constructed and light source visibility is determined before the actual ray-tracing rendering. This preliminary analysis identifies which light sources are visible from the camera position and which objects are within the camera frustum, allowing the main rendering process to skip unnecessary ray-tracing operations and significantly reduce processing time while maintaining rendering accuracy for visible elements.
2Reliability
If ray-tracing operations are performed for all virtual resources, then rendering completeness is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by separating and removing unnecessary virtual resources from the ray-tracing process. Through the pre-processing phase, light sources that are not visible from the camera position are extracted and excluded from the rendering calculation. The BVH structure also enables extraction of objects outside the camera frustum. This reduces device complexity and processing requirements by focusing computational resources only on visible virtual resources while maintaining rendering completeness for the visible scene.
3Productivity
If the number of ray-tracing operations is reduced, then processing efficiency is improved, but rendering accuracy may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by applying different processing strategies to different regions of the virtual scene based on their visibility and importance. The pre-processing phase identifies visible versus invisible regions, and the rendering process applies full ray-tracing accuracy only to visible objects and light sources while completely omitting processing for invisible elements. This localized approach maintains high rendering accuracy for the visible scene while dramatically improving processing efficiency by eliminating wasted computations on invisible resources.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of rendering an image includes generating a virtual scene comprising a set of virtual resources, the virtual resources being virtual objects and/or virtual light sources; pre-processing the virtual scene by ray-tracing with respect to a virtual camera position to detect one or more virtual resources not required for ray-tracing rendering of at least an aspect of rendering the image; and rendering the image by a ray-tracing process from the virtual camera position, the ray-tracing process being configured to omit ray-tracing for at least a given aspect of the image, with respect to the one or more virtual resources not required for ray-tracing rendering of at least the given aspect of the image.