Ray Tracing Complex Scenes on a Multiple-instruction Steam Multiple-Data Stream Concurrent Computer

Abstract

The Ray Tracing technique generates perhaps the most realistic looking computergenerated images. It does so at the cost of a great deal of computer time. Many algorithms have been developed to speed up the ray tracing procedure, but it still remains the most CPU-intensive realistic image synthesis method. To date, ray tracing has remained largely in the realm of serial computers. The research in this thesis takes ray tracing strongly into the parallel computing domain and deals effectively with all of the central issuessurrounding the parallelization of this procedure. Results from the "Hypercube Ray Tracer" are collected and compared against other ray tracing systems. A new technique for ray tracing Constructive Solid Geometry objects is also developed and implemented.