ARTS: Accelerated Ray-Tracing System

Abstract

In this article we propose algorithms that address the two basic problems encountered in generating continuous-tone images by ray tracing: speed and aliasing. We examine previous approaches to the problem and then propose a scheme based on the coherency of an auxiliary data structure imposed on the original object domain. After investigating both simple spatial enumeration and a hybrid octree approach, we developed 3DDDA, a 3D line generator for efficient traversing of both structures. 3DDDA provides an order of magnitude improvement in processing speed compared to other known ray-tracing methods. Processing time is found to be virtually independent of the number of objects involved in the scene. For large numbers of objects, this method actully becomes faster than scan-line methods. To remove jags from edges, a scheme for identifying edge orientation and distance from pixel center to true edge has been implemented. The time required for antialiasing depends on the total length of the edges encountered, but it is normally only a fractional addition to the time needed to produce the scene without antialiasing.