ReVolver/C40: A Scalable Parallel Computer for Volume Rendering―Design and Implementation―

摘要

This paper describes the architecture of Re-Volver/C40 a scalable parallel machine for volume rendering and its prototype implementation. The most important feature of Re-Volver/C40 is view-independent real time rendering of translucent 3D object by using perspective projection. In order to realize this feature, the authors propose a parallel volume memory architecture based on the principal axis oriented sampling method and parallel treble volume memory. This paper also discusses the implementation issues of ReVolver/C40 where various kinds of parallelism extracted to achieve high-perfromance rendering are explained. The prototype systems had been developed and their performance evaluation results are explained. As the results of the evaluation of the prototype systems, ReVolver/C40 with 32 parallel volume memory is estimated to achieve more than 10 frame, per second for 256~3 volume data on 256~2 screen by using perspective projection. The authors also review the development of ReVolver/C40 from several view points.