Real-Time Rendering Methods With Adaptive Levels of Detail for Fast Rendering of Parametric Objects on Modern GPUs

Information

• Publication Type: Journal Paper (without talk)
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Rendering and Modeling
• Date: July 2026
• DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2025.3638697
• Journal: IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
• Number: 7
• Open Access: yes
• Volume: 32
• Pages: 4931 – 4944
• Keywords: real-time rendering, parametric rendering

Abstract

Parametric functions are an extremely efficient representation for 3D geometry, capable of compactly modelling highly complex objects. Once specified, parametric 3D objects allow for visualization at arbitrary levels of detail (LOD), at no additional memory cost, limited only by the amount of evaluated samples. However, mapping the sample evaluation to the hardware rendering pipelines of modern graphics processing units (GPUs) is not trivial. In this article, we propose a general method for efficient rendering of parametrically-defined 3D objects on modern hardware architectures. Our method adaptively analyzes, allocates and evaluates parametric function samples to produce high-quality renderings. Geometric precision can be modulated from few pixels down to sub-pixel level, enabling real-time frame rates of several 100 frames per second (FPS) for various parametric functions. We propose a dedicated LOD stage, which outputs patches of similar geometric detail to a subsequent rendering stage that uses either a hardware tessellation-based approach or performs point-based software rasterization. Our method requires neither preprocessing nor caching, and the proposed LOD mechanism is fast enough to run each frame. Hence, our approach also lends itself to animated parametric objects. We demonstrate the benefits of our method over a state-of-the-art spherical harmonics (SH) glyph rendering method and over classical LOD approaches, while showing its flexibility on a range of other demanding shapes.

Additional Files and Images

Weblinks

• DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2025.3638697

BibTeX

@article{UNTERGUGGENBERGER-2026-ALOD,
  title =      "Real-Time Rendering Methods With Adaptive Levels of Detail
               for Fast Rendering of Parametric Objects on Modern GPUs",
  author =     "Johannes Unterguggenberger and Lukas Lipp and Michael Wimmer
               and Markus Steinberger and Bernhard Kerbl and Markus
               Sch\"{u}tz",
  year =       "2026",
  abstract =   "Parametric functions are an extremely efficient
               representation for 3D geometry, capable of compactly
               modelling highly complex objects. Once specified, parametric
               3D objects allow for visualization at arbitrary levels of
               detail (LOD), at no additional memory cost, limited only by
               the amount of evaluated samples. However, mapping the sample
               evaluation to the hardware rendering pipelines of modern
               graphics processing units (GPUs) is not trivial. In this
               article, we propose a general method for efficient rendering
               of parametrically-defined 3D objects on modern hardware
               architectures. Our method adaptively analyzes, allocates and
               evaluates parametric function samples to produce
               high-quality renderings. Geometric precision can be
               modulated from few pixels down to sub-pixel level, enabling
               real-time frame rates of several 100 frames per second (FPS)
               for various parametric functions. We propose a dedicated LOD
               stage, which outputs patches of similar geometric detail to
               a subsequent rendering stage that uses either a hardware
               tessellation-based approach or performs point-based software
               rasterization. Our method requires neither preprocessing nor
               caching, and the proposed LOD mechanism is fast enough to
               run each frame. Hence, our approach also lends itself to
               animated parametric objects. We demonstrate the benefits of
               our method over a state-of-the-art spherical harmonics (SH)
               glyph rendering method and over classical LOD approaches,
               while showing its flexibility on a range of other demanding
               shapes.",
  month =      jul,
  doi =        "10.1109/TVCG.2025.3638697",
  journal =    "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics",
  number =     "7",
  volume =     "32",
  pages =      "4931--4944",
  keywords =   "real-time rendering, parametric rendering",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2026/UNTERGUGGENBERGER-2026-ALOD/",
}