Parallel volume rendering and data coherence
Brian Corrie, Paul Mackerras · 1993
The two key issues in implementing a parallel ray-casting volume renderer are the work distribution and the data distribution. We have implemented such a renderer on the Fujitsu AP1000 using an adaptive image-space subdivision algorithm based on the worker-farm paradigm for the work distribution, and a distributed virtual memory, implemented in software, to provide the data distribution. Measurements show that this scheme works efficiently and effectively utilizes the data coherence that is inherent in volume data. Categories and Subject Descriptors: C.1.2 [Proces- sor Architectures]: Multiple Data Stream Architectures -- multiple-instruction-stream, multiple-data-stream (MIMD); I.3.1 [Computer Graphics]: Hardware Architecture -- parallel processing; I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: ThreeDimensional Graphics and Realism -- ray tracing Key Words: Visualization, volume rendering, worker farm, image space, distributed virtual memory. 1 Introduction Volume rendering using ray-casting is a...