Real-time volumetric rendering and compositing techniques for high-altitude wake scene generation
Dennis H. Bunfield, Darian E. Trimble, Gary H. Ballard · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2009
AMRDEC has developed real-time rendering techniques for generating a real-time dynamic physics-based high altitude wake geometric model for ablating objects re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Computation was optimized for COTS graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware using minimal preprocessing for operating in AMRDEC's Hardware-in-the- Loop (HWIL) facility. These techniques are built around the Joint Signature Image Generator (JSIG) framework and involve a five stage render process per frame. JSIG's zoom anti-aliasing algorithms were used to preserve depth buffer information required by several of the render stages. New key features of this new modeling technique are dynamic flow field mesh generation based upon an object's arbitrary angle-of-attack and volumetric line-of-site integration. The concepts developed under this effort can be extended to other areas, such as atmospherics and cloud modeling, plume modeling, and marine effects.