A Memory Efficient Architecture for Real-time Parallel and Perspective Direct Volume Rendering

Real-time visualization of large three dimensional datasets demands high performance; thus pushes storage, processing, and data communication requirements to the limits of current technology. General purpose high-performance parallel processing has been used to visualize these datasets; however, these solutions are not tractable because of the cost of the machines. High-end graphics workstations have recently achieved interactive rates on moderate sized datasets using texture-mapping; however, texture mapping memory is typically limited and texturing hardware does not directly support 3D gradients. Several custom architectures have been proposed to address the shortcomings of other approaches. These solutions promise unprecedented price-performance ratios. Recently, two specialized architectures have been proposed for interactive visualization of 2563 datasets. One achieves 30Hz for parallel projections and the other achieves a maximum of 10Hz for both parallel and perspective projections. This paper introduces the Resample And Composite Engine (RACE) architecture. A new highperformance general purpose volume graphics architecture that targets 35Hz performance for both perspective and parallel rendering with as few as 4 rendering pipelines for 2563 datasets using 150MHz SDRAM memories. It is expected to render a 5123 dataset interactively using emerging memory technology such as RAMBUS. In addition, the RACE architecture will support antialiasing and texture mapping. We believe that this work further validates the need for specialized direct volume rendering hardware for voxel processing. Rutgers State University, [email protected] yRutgers State University, [email protected]