A parallel processing scheme for tree-structured image generation system

A parallel ray tracing scheme has been implemented on a loosely coupled multimicrocomputer system. Improvements are made by extending the architecture from a star structure to a hierarchical tree structure. This makes it possible to generate animated images at higher speed. The authors outline a hierarchical tree-structured image-generation system and discuss the parallel processing mechanisms of data transfer and hierarchical load distribution schemes. Problems with the tree-structured system are pointed out, and remedies are examined (area redistribution, and adaptive subdivision). Experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the tree-structured system in image generation.<<ETX>>