Dynamic ray population control
US8674987B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 30, 2010 |
| Grant date | Mar 18, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 16, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/06
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Aspects can be for ray tracing of 3-D scenes, and include dynamically controlling a population of rays being stored in a memory, to keep the population within a target, a memory footprint or other resource usage specification. An example includes controlling the population by examining indicia associated with rays returning from intersection testing, to be shaded, the indicia correlated with behavior of shaders to be run for those rays, such that population control selects, or reorders rays for shading, to prioritize shading of rays whose shaders are expected to produce fewer rays. The indicia can include a respective weight for each ray. In an example, analyzer modules examine hints associated with shaders bound to intersected primitives. Population control aspects can influence ray diversity in memory, including encouraging a varying diversity pattern as rendering of a given scene or frame progresses, based on system resource indicia, rendering metrics and so on.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.