A tree-structured parallel processing system for image generation by ray tracing

An image generation system by ray tracing was implemented on a distributed parallel processing system composed of loosely coupled multimicrocomputers. An improvement was made by extending the architecture from the star structure to the hierarchical tree structure. This improvement makes it possible for an animated image to be generated at high speed with shading which can represent the shape and texture of three-dimensional objects with high quality. This paper outlines the hierarchical tree-structured image generation system, discussing the parallel processing mechanisms of the system, such as data transfer and hierarchical load distribution schemes. Experiments were made to evaluate the performance. Problems in the tree-structured system are pointed out, and remedies are proposed (area redistribution, and area subdivision). Experiments are made to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. Thus, it is demonstrated that the tree-structured system is useful in the image generation using ray tracing.