Unlimited object instancing in real-time

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to efficient rendering of an unlimited number of 3D objects in real-time. We present a rendering pipeline that is based on a new computer graphics programming paradigm implementing a holistic approach to the virtual scene definition. Using Signed Distance Functions (SDF) for a virtual scene representation, we managed to control the content and complexity of the virtual scene with the use of mathematical equations. In order to solve the limited hardware problem, especially the limited capacity of the GPU memory, we propose a scene element repository which extends the idea of the data based amplification. The content of the repository strongly depends on a 3D object visualization method. One of the most important requirements of the developed pipeline is the possibility to render 3D objects created by artists. In order to achieve that, the object visualization method uses Sparse Voxel Octree (SVO) ray casting. The developed rendering pipeline is fully compatible with the available SVO algorithms. We show how to avoid occlusion errors which can occur in the SDF and SVO integration single-pass rendering pipeline. Finally, in order to control the content and complexity of the virtual scenes in an unlimited way, we propose a collection of global operators applicable to the virtual scene distance function. Developed Unlimited Object Instancing rendering pipeline can be easily integrated with traditional visualization methods, e.g. the triangle rasterization. The only hardware requirement for our approach is the support for compute shaders or any GPGPU API.