Premium
Adaptive Ray Tracing of Subdivision Surfaces
Author(s) -
Müller Kerstin,
Techmann Torsten,
Fellner Dieter
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8659.t01-2-00703
Subject(s) - subdivision , silhouette , subdivision surface , computer science , computer graphics , ray tracing (physics) , computer graphics (images) , projection (relational algebra) , bounding volume , preprocessor , rendering (computer graphics) , surface (topology) , distributed ray tracing , global illumination , computer vision , algorithm , polygon mesh , mathematics , geometry , collision detection , geography , physics , computer security , archaeology , quantum mechanics , collision
Subdivision Surfaces as well as (interactive) ray tracing have become an important issue in computer graphics.But ray tracing of subdivision surfaces has received only little attention. We present a new approach for raytracing of subdivision surfaces. The algorithm uses a projection of the ray onto the surface and works mainly intwo dimensions along this projection. While proceeding from patch to patch, we examine the bounding volume oftheir borders: the lower the distance between ray and subdivision surface, the more refinement steps are adaptivelyapplied to the surface but only along the projection of the ray. The adaptive refinement of a patch is controlled bycurvature, size, its membership to the silhouette, and its potential contribution to the light transport. The algorithmis simple and mainly consists of elementary geometric computations. Hence it is fast and easy to implementwithout the need for elaborate preprocessing. The algorithm is robust in the sense that it deals with all features ofsubdivision surfaces like creases and corners. Categories and Subject Descripters (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Raytracing