Fast Rendering of Parametric Objects on Modern GPUs

Information

• Publication Type: Conference Paper
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Instant Visualization and Interaction for Large Point Clouds
• Date: May 2024
• ISBN: 978-3-03868-243-1
• Publisher: The Eurographics Association
• Open Access: yes
• Location: Odense
• Lecturer: Johannes Unterguggenberger
• Event: Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization (2024)
• DOI: 10.2312/pgv.20241129
• Booktitle: EGPGV24: Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization
• Pages: 12
• Conference date: 27. May 2024
• Keywords: Tessellation Shaders, Point-Based Rendering, Parametric Objects, Fast Rendering, Modern GPUs

Abstract

Parametric functions are an extremely efficient representation for 3D geometry, capable of compactly modelling highly complex objects. Once specified, parametric 3D objects allow for visualization at arbitrary levels of detail, at no additional memory cost, limited only by the amount of evaluated samples. However, mapping the sample evaluation to the hardware rendering pipelines of modern graphics processing units (GPUs) is not trivial. This has given rise to several specialized solutions, each targeting interactive rendering of a constrained set of parametric functions. In this paper, we propose a general method for efficient rendering of parametrically defined 3D objects. Our solution is carefully designed around modern hardware architecture. Our method adaptively analyzes, allocates and evaluates parametric function samples to produce high-quality renderings. Geometric precision can be modulated from few pixels down to sub-pixel level, enabling real-time frame rates of several 100 frames per second (FPS) for various parametric functions. We propose a dedicated level-of-detail (LOD) stage, which outputs patches of similar geometric detail to a subsequent rendering stage that uses either a hardware tessellation-based approach or performs point-based softare rasterization. Our method requires neither preprocessing nor caching, and the proposed LOD mechanism is fast enough to run each frame. Hence, our approach also lends itself to animated parametric objects. We demonstrate the benefits of our method over a state-of-the-art spherical harmonics (SH) glyph rendering method, while showing its flexibility on a range of other demanding shapes.

Additional Files and Images

Weblinks

• Entry in reposiTUm (TU Wien Publication Database)
• DOI: 10.2312/pgv.20241129

BibTeX

@inproceedings{unterguggenberger-2024-fropo,
  title =      "Fast Rendering of Parametric Objects on Modern GPUs",
  author =     "Johannes Unterguggenberger and Lukas Lipp and Michael Wimmer
               and Bernhard Kerbl and Markus Sch\"{u}tz",
  year =       "2024",
  abstract =   "Parametric functions are an extremely efficient
               representation for 3D geometry, capable of compactly
               modelling highly complex objects. Once specified, parametric
               3D objects allow for visualization at arbitrary levels of
               detail, at no additional memory cost, limited only by the
               amount of evaluated samples. However, mapping the sample
               evaluation to the hardware rendering pipelines of modern
               graphics processing units (GPUs) is not trivial. This has
               given rise to several specialized solutions, each targeting
               interactive rendering of a constrained set of parametric
               functions. In this paper, we propose a general method for
               efficient rendering of parametrically defined 3D objects.
               Our solution is carefully designed around modern hardware
               architecture. Our method adaptively analyzes, allocates and
               evaluates parametric function samples to produce
               high-quality renderings. Geometric precision can be
               modulated from few pixels down to sub-pixel level, enabling
               real-time frame rates of several 100 frames per second (FPS)
               for various parametric functions. We propose a dedicated
               level-of-detail (LOD) stage, which outputs patches of
               similar geometric detail to a subsequent rendering stage
               that uses either a hardware tessellation-based approach or
               performs point-based softare rasterization. Our method
               requires neither preprocessing nor caching, and the proposed
               LOD mechanism is fast enough to run each frame. Hence, our
               approach also lends itself to animated parametric objects.
               We demonstrate the benefits of our method over a
               state-of-the-art spherical harmonics (SH) glyph rendering
               method, while showing its flexibility on a range of other
               demanding shapes.",
  month =      may,
  isbn =       "978-3-03868-243-1",
  publisher =  "The Eurographics Association",
  location =   "Odense",
  event =      "Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and
               Visualization (2024)",
  doi =        "10.2312/pgv.20241129",
  booktitle =  "EGPGV24: Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and
               Visualization",
  pages =      "12",
  keywords =   "Tessellation Shaders, Point-Based Rendering, Parametric
               Objects, Fast Rendering, Modern GPUs",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2024/unterguggenberger-2024-fropo/",
}