Testing a binary space partitioning algorithm with metamorphic testing

Abstract

Surface visibility problem is a well known problem in computer graphics. The problem is to decide the visibility of an object surface to a viewer in a space. Binary Space Partitioning tree (BSP tree) has been proposed to enable efficient determination of surface visibility. The BSP tree has also been used to solve many problems, such as collision detection, ray tracing and solid modelling. As a consequence of the extensive applications of the BSP tree, it is important to ensure the correctness of its implementation. In this paper, we report our experience of testing software that deals with the surface visibility using the BSP tree. We demonstrate how we analysed the software behaviour, selected test cases to reveal a real-life software failure, and debugged the program to fix the fault. This study provides insight into testing of other BSP-tree related algorithms.