Volume rendering using parallel algebraic logic (PAL) hardware
Wanqing Li, Hongchi Shi, Patrick C. Coffield · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1997
In this paper, we present the implementation of a volume graphics rendering algorithm using shift-restoration operations on parallel algebraic logic (PAL) image processor. The algorithm is a parallel ray casting algorithm. In order to eliminate shading artifacts caused by inaccurate estimation of surface normal vectors, we use gray level volume instead of binary volume, and apply a low pass filter to smooth the volume object surfaces. By transforming the volume to an intermediate coordinate system to which there is a simple mapping from the object coordinate system, we solve the data redistribution problem caused by nonregular data access patterns in volume rendering. It has been proved very effective in reducing the data communication cost of the rendering algorithm on the PAL hardware.