Cache-aware volume rendering methods with dynamic data reorganization

Abstract

We present two cache-aware methods for accelerating volume rendering on graphics processing units (GPUs). The proposed methods extend a previous method such that they improve the worst frame rate typically observed at oblique viewing angles. The key technique for realizing this extension is a dynamic reorganization of the volume data that improves the data locality based on the expected data access pattern. The proposed methods are: (1) a basic method which requires three times the amount of memory to store the volume and (2) an adaptive method which utilizes on-the-fly data reorganization to achieve similar performance without increasing the memory consumption. Experimental results indicate that the GPU texture cache hit rate increased from 58.8 to 71.8% for oblique viewing angles using a 1 GB data set, compared to the previous method. Furthermore, the maximum speedup of the proposed adaptive method was 3.6 $$\times$$ that of the previous method.