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Computational Visual Media 2016, 2(1): 45-56 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41095-016-0034-8
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 29 January 2016

VoxLink—Combining sparse volumetric data and geometry for efficient rendering

Show Author's Information Daniel Kauker1,  Martin Falk2( ),  Guido Reina1,  Anders Ynnerman2,  Thomas Ertl1
VISUS, University of Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
Immersive Visualization Group, Linköping University, 601 74 Norrköping, Sweden.
Keywords:
ray tracing, voxelization, sparse volumes, GPGPU, generic rendering
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Kauker D, Falk M, Reina G, et al. VoxLink—Combining sparse volumetric data and geometry for efficient rendering. Computational Visual Media, 2016, 2(1): 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41095-016-0034-8
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Abstract Full text About this article

Processing and visualizing large scale volumetric and geometric datasets is mission critical in an increasing number of applications in academic research as well as in commercial enterprise. Often the datasets are, or can be processed to become, sparse. In this paper, we present VoxLink, a novel approach to render sparse volume data in a memory-efficient manner enabling interactive rendering on common, off-the-shelf graphics hardware. Our approach utilizes current GPU architectures for voxelizing, storing, and visualizing such datasets. It is based on the idea of per-pixel linked lists (ppLL), an A-buffer implementation for order-independent transparency rendering. The method supports voxelization and rendering of dense semi-transparent geometry, sparse volume data, and implicit surface representations with a unified data structure. The proposed data structure also enables efficient simulation of global lighting effects such as reflection, refraction, and shadow ray evaluation.


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About this article

VoxLink—Combining sparse volumetric data and geometry for efficient rendering

Show Author's information Daniel Kauker1, Martin Falk2( ), Guido Reina1, Anders Ynnerman2, Thomas Ertl1
VISUS, University of Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
Immersive Visualization Group, Linköping University, 601 74 Norrköping, Sweden.

Abstract

Processing and visualizing large scale volumetric and geometric datasets is mission critical in an increasing number of applications in academic research as well as in commercial enterprise. Often the datasets are, or can be processed to become, sparse. In this paper, we present VoxLink, a novel approach to render sparse volume data in a memory-efficient manner enabling interactive rendering on common, off-the-shelf graphics hardware. Our approach utilizes current GPU architectures for voxelizing, storing, and visualizing such datasets. It is based on the idea of per-pixel linked lists (ppLL), an A-buffer implementation for order-independent transparency rendering. The method supports voxelization and rendering of dense semi-transparent geometry, sparse volume data, and implicit surface representations with a unified data structure. The proposed data structure also enables efficient simulation of global lighting effects such as reflection, refraction, and shadow ray evaluation.

Keywords: ray tracing, voxelization, sparse volumes, GPGPU, generic rendering

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Publication history
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Publication history

Revised: 01 December 2015
Accepted: 09 December 2015
Published: 29 January 2016
Issue date: March 2016

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2016

Acknowledgements

The environment maps used are the work of Emil Persson and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. This work is partially funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of SFB 716 project D.3, the Excellence Center at Linköping and Lund in Information Technology (ELLIIT), and the Swedish e-Science Research Centre (SeRC).

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