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Parallel BVH Construction using Progressive Hierarchical Refinement
Author(s) -
Hendrich J.,
Meister D.,
Bittner J.
Publication year - 2017
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/cgf.13143
Subject(s) - computer science , bounding volume , ray tracing (physics) , tracing , bounding overwatch , parallel computing , algorithm , computer graphics (images) , collision detection , artificial intelligence , collision , physics , computer security , quantum mechanics , operating system
We propose a novel algorithm for construction of bounding volume hierarchies (BVHs) for multi‐core CPU architectures. The algorithm constructs the BVH by a divisive top‐down approach using a progressively refined cut of an existing auxiliary BVH. We propose a new strategy for refining the cut that significantly reduces the workload of individual steps of BVH construction. Additionally, we propose a new method for integrating spatial splits into the BVH construction algorithm. The auxiliary BVH is constructed using a very fast method such as LBVH based on Morton codes. We show that the method provides a very good trade‐off between the build time and ray tracing performance. We evaluated the method within the Embree ray tracing framework and show that it compares favorably with the Embree BVH builders regarding build time while maintaining comparable ray tracing speed.