Massively Parallel Volume Rendering

Abstract:

We are developing techniques for massively parallel volume rendering, examining primarily the techniques of algorithms on general parallel computers. Research involves the use of the UCSC 4096 processor MasPar MP-2 and numerous workstations. Recent NSF funding shall provide a very high performance visualization platform on which we shall also do research. Important research topics are: what is the maximum performance attainable for volumetric visualization on any given parallel computer? What is the optimal algorithm for volume visualization for a general model of computation? Which interactivity features provide capabilities that allow new results to be discovered with volumetric data?

We have hosted several visitors working in the area of parallel volume visualization, and are also collaborating with the other faculty in scientific visualization.

Undergraduate student's project to provide web interfaces to Volumetric rendering:

PermWeb Front End

Papers:

HPL-98-49R1 Survey of Parallel Volume Rendering Algorithms - Wittenbrink, Craig M. Pages 1329-1336, PDPTA'98, Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques and Applications July 1998, Las Vegas, NV. Also available as Technical Report, HPL-98-49-R1, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA, Mar. 1998.
Data dependent optimizations for permutation volume rendering, Craig M. Wittenbrink and K. Kim, In the Proceedings of SPIE Visual Data Exploration and Analysis V, SPIE's Electronic Imaging `98, Feb. 1998, San Jose, CA, pages 284-294. Supercedes Technical Report, UCSC-CRL-96-24, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1996. Also available as Technical Report, HPL-97-59R1 Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA, Mar. 1997.
Irregular grid volume rendering with composition networks, Craig M. Wittenbrink, In the Proceedings of SPIE Visual Data Exploration and Analysis V, SPIE's Electronic Imaging `98, Feb. 1998, San Jose, CA, pages 250-260. Also available as Technical Report, HPL-97-51, HPL-97-51R1 Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA, Mar. 1997.
Direct Volume Rendering via 3D texture mapping hardware by Allen Van Gelder and Kwansik Kim, 1996 Volume Rendering Symposium, ACM/IEEE
``PermWeb: remote parallel and distributed volume visualization'', Craig M. Wittenbrink, Kwansik Kim, Jeremy Story, Alex Pang, Karin Hollerbach, and Nelson Max, to appear in the Proceedings of the SPIE Visual Data Exploration and Analysis IV, SPIE's Electronic Imaging '97, Feb. 1997, San Jose, CA. HPL-97-34 - Wittenbrink, Craig M.; Kim, Kwansik; Story, Jeremy; Pang, Alex; Hollerbach, Karin; Max, Nelson.
HPL-97-116R1 Extensions to Permutation Warping for Parallel Volume Rendering - Wittenbrink, Craig, PARALLEL COMPUTING, accepted 1998, in Press.
Time and space optimal data parallel volume rendering using permutation warping, Craig M. Wittenbrink and A. K. Somani. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, Vol. 46, No. 2, Nov. 1, pages 148-164, 1997. Also available as Univ. of California Santa Cruz, Technical Report UCSC-CRL-96-33. (reprints available, please e-mail)
See full listing of volume rendering papers on Craig's Shameless Parallel and Distributed Rendering Page .
See listing of other researcher's work on volume rendering Craig's Parallel and Distributed Rendering Page .

Sponsor:

craig@cse.ucsc.edu