Interactive Visualization and Collision Detection using Dynamic Simplification and Cache-Coherent Layouts

SUNG-EUI YOON: Interactive Visualization and Collision Detection using Dynamic Simplification and Cache-Coherent Layouts (Under the direction of Dinesh Manocha) Recent advances in model acquisition, computer-aided design, and simulation technologies have resulted in massive databases of complex geometric models consisting of more than tens or hundreds of millions of triangles. In spite of the rapid progress in the performance of CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs), it may not be possible to visualize or perform collision detection between massive models at interactive rates on commodity hardware. In this thesis, we present dynamic simplification and cache-coherent layout algorithms for interactive visualization and collision detection between large models, in order to bridge the gap between the performance of commodity hardware and high model complexity. Firstly, we present a novel dynamic simplification algorithm that efficiently handles massive models for view-dependent rendering while alleviating discontinuity problems such as visual poppings that arise when switching between different levels of detail (LODs). We describe an out-of-core construction algorithm for hierarchical simplification of massive models that cannot fit into main memory. We also apply dynamic simplification to collision detection and introduce a new conservative distance metric to perform fast and conservative collision detection between massive models. Our approach is conservative in that it may overestimate the set of colliding primitives, but never misses any collisions. Secondly, we present novel cache-oblivious layout algorithms for polygonal meshes and hierarchies to minimize the expected number of cache misses for a wide variety