EGGH97: SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Workshop on Graphics Hardware 1997

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https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/338

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Browsing EGGH97: SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Workshop on Graphics Hardware 1997 by Subject "1.3.3 [Computer Graphics]"

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    Codesign Of Graphics Hardware Accelerators
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Ewins, Jon P.; L.Watten, Phil; White, Martin; McNeill, Michael D. J.; Lister, Paul F.; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    The design of a hardware architecture for a computer graphics pipeline requires a thorough understanding of the algorithms involved at each stage, and the implications these algorithms have on the organisation of the pipeline architecture. The choice of algorithm, the flow of pixel data through the pipeline, and bit width precision issues are crucial decisions in the design of new hardware accelerators. Making these decisions correctly requires intensive investigation and experimentation. The use of hardware description languages such as VHDL, allow for sound top down design methodologies, but their effectiveness in such experimental work is limited. This paper discusses the use of software tools as an aid to hardware development and presents applications that demonstrate the possibilities of this approach and the benefits that can be attained from an integrated codesign design environment.
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    Memory Access Patterns of Occlusion-Compatible 3D Image Warping
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Murk, William R.; Bishop, Gary; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    McMillan and Bishop s 3D image warp can be efficiently implemented by exploiting the coherency of its memory accesses. We analyze this coherency, and present algorithms that take advantage of it. These algorithms traverse the reference image in an occlusion-compatible order, which is an order that can resolve visibility using a painter s algorithm. Required cache sizes are calculated for several one-pass 3D warp algorithms, and we develop a two-pass algorithm which requires a smaller cache size than any of the practical one-pass algorithms. We also show that reference image traversal orders that are occlusion-compatible for continuous images are not always occlusion-compatible when applied to the discrete images used in practice.
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    PixelFlow: The Realization
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Eyles, John; Molnar, Steven; Poulton, John; Greer, Trey; Lastra, Anselmo; England, Nick; Westover, Lee; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    PixelFlow is an architecture for high-speed, highly realistic image generation, based on the techniques of object-parallelism and image composition. Its initial architecture was described in [MOLN92]. After development by the original team of researchers at the University of North Carolina, and codevelopment with industry partners, Division Ltd. and Hewlett- Packard, PixelFlow now is a much more capable system than initially conceived and its hardware and software systems have evolved considerably. This paper describes the final realization of PixelFlow, along with hardware and software enhancements heretofore unpublished.
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    Towards Real-Time Photorealistic Rendering: Challenges and Solutions
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Schilling, Andreas; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    A growing number of real-time applications need graphics with photorealistic quality, especially in the field of training (virtual operation, driving and flightsimulation), but also in the areas of design or ergonomic research. We take a closer look at main deficiencies of today s real time graphics hardware and present solutions for several of the identified problems in the areas of antialiasing and texture-. bump- and reflection mapping. In the second part of the paper, a new method for antialiasing bump maps is explained in more detail.
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    Triangle Scan Conversion using 2D Homogeneous Coordinates
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Olano, Marc; Greer, Trey; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    We present a new triangle scan conversion algorithm that works entirely in homogeneous coordinates. By using homogeneous coordinates, the algorithm avoids costly clipping tests which make pipelining or hardware implementations of previous scan conversion algorithms difficult. The algorithm handles clipping by the addition of clip edges, without the need to actually split the clipped triangle. Furthermore, the algorithm can render true homogeneous triangles, including external triangles that should pass through infinity with two visible sections. An implementation of the algorithm on Pixel-Planes 5 runs about 33% faster than a similar implementation of the previous algorithm.
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    VIZARD - Visualization Accelerator for Realtime Display
    (The Eurographics Association, 1997) Knittel, Günter; Straßer, Wolfgang; A. Kaufmann and W. Strasser and S. Molnar and B.-O. Schneider
    Volume rendering has traditionally been an application for supercomputers, workstation networks or expensive special-purpose hardware. In contrast, this report shows how far we have reached using the other extreme: the low-end PC platform. We have alleviated the mismatch between this demanding application and the limited computational resources of a PC in three ways: several stages in the visualization pipeline are placed into a preprocessing step, the volume rendering algorithm was optimized using a special data compression scheme, and the algorithm has been implemented in hardware as a PCI-compatible coprocessor (lXZ,4RD). These methods give us a frame rate of up to 1OHz for 256 <sup>3</sup> data sets and an acceptable image quality, although the accelerator prototype was built using relatively slow FPGA-technology. In a low-cost environment a coprocessor must not be more expensive than the host itself, and so VIZARD was designed to be manufacturable for a few hundred dollars. The special data compression scheme allows the data set to be placed into the main memory of the PC and eliminates the need for an expensive, separate volume memory. The entire visualization system consists of a portable PC with two built-in accelerator boards. Despite its small size, the system provides perspective raycasting for realtime walk-throughs. Additional features include stereoscopic viewing using shutter glasses and volume animation.