David W. Paglieroni
Abstract
Height distributional distance transform (HDDT) methods are introduced as a new class of methods for height field ray tracing. HDDT methods utilize results of height field preprocessing. The preprocessing involves computing a height field transform representing an array of cone-like volumes of empty space above the height field surface that are as wide as possible. There is one cone-like volume balanced on its apex centered above each height field cell. Various height field transforms of this type are developed. Each is based on distance transforms of height field horizontal cross-sections. HDDT methods trace rays through empty cone-like volumes instead of through successive height field cells. The performance of HDDT methods is evaluated experimentally against existing height field ray tracing methods.
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Index Terms
- Height distributional distance transform methods for height field ray tracing
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Reviews
Patrick Gilles Maillot
Ray tracing is generally used to produce nice pictures, accurate lighting, shading, and realistic scenes. The authors focus on the ray tracing of height fields (surfaces that are functions z of two variables x and y ) and present the advantages of height distribution distance transform (HDDT) methods over other existing methods to achieve better performance. The authors present four different approaches to height field ray tracing. Incremental and hierarchical methods have been used for years, HDDT is introduced as a new approach in this paper, and a variation of polyhedral surface ray tracing is also discussed. For each approach, basic explanations help the reader through the principles behind the method, and a list of references helps the reader find further information. More detail is offered on HDDT, with an emphasis on the cost of the different approaches. Hierarchical, quad-tree, and resolution pyramid methods are analyzed. HDDT methods are reviewed in detail, and the authors explain their choice of a cone-like volume intersection rather than the rectangular bounding box optimizations used in the past. They also describe several categories of HDDT methods, and finally describe the structure they will use: arrays of empty cone-like volumes, built as a preprocessing step prior to the actual HDDT ray tracing process. This is a captivating paper for everyone who wants to understand HDDT in detail. Beyond the specifics of HDDT and the description of a patented approach, the paper discusses a clear approach to ray tracing optimization, and justifies the choice of specific techniques and structures to get the most out of ray tracing methods.
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