@mastersthesis{CHIU-2008-PEN, title = "Penta G - A Game Engine for Real-Time Rendering Research", author = "Dey-Fuch Chiu", year = "2008", abstract = "Scientifc research often necessitates the usage of middleware for proof-of-concept implementations. In computer graphics, rendering engines are a type of middleware used for such a purpose. For real-time rendering, however, rendering engines often do not provide all functionality that is required, as in real-time, a certain degree of user interactivity aside from graphics is necessary, or can be the center of research. Furthermore, some modern research also explores interactivity with non-visual perceptual channels such as audio. Full game engines provide that functionality, however most state-of- the-art game engines are only available through expensive or exclusive licenses, or are completely unavailable for scientifc research. This thesis presents the design, implementation and adaptation process of a state-of-the-art game engine that was tailored specifcally for research purposes. This game engine includes all the necessary components to build real-time-interactive computer graphics applications and has been used in several research projects such as the EU GameTools Project and the EU Crossmod Project. ", month = jun, address = "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria", school = "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna University of Technology ", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2008/CHIU-2008-PEN/", } @inproceedings{CHARALAMBOS-2007-HLOD, title = "Optimized HLOD Refinement Driven by Hardware Occlusion Queries", author = "Jean Pierre Charalambos and Jir\'{i} Bittner and Michael Wimmer and Eduardo Romero", year = "2007", abstract = "We present a new method for integrating hierarchical levels of detail (HLOD) with occlusion culling. The algorithm refines the HLOD hierarchy using geometric criteria as well as the occlusion information. For the refinement we use a simple model which takes into account the possible distribution of the visible pixels. The traversal of the HLOD hierarchy is optimized by a new algorithm which uses spatial and temporal coherence of visibility. We predict the HLOD refinement condition for the current frame based on the results from the last frame. This allows an efficient update of the front of termination nodes as well as an efficient scheduling of hardware occlusion queries. Compared to previous approaches, the new method improves on speed as well as image quality. The results indicate that the method is very close to the optimal scheduling of occlusion queries for driving the HLOD refinement.", month = nov, isbn = "978-3-540-76855-9", series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science, volume 4841", publisher = "Springer", location = "Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California", editor = "Bebis, G.; Boyle, R.; Parvin, B.; Koracin, D.; Paragios, N.; Tanveer, S.-M.; Ju, T.; Liu, Z.; Coquillart, S.; Cruz-Neira, C.; M\"{o}ller, T.; Malzbender, T.", booktitle = "Advances in Visual Computing (Third International Symposium on Visual Computing -- ISVC 2007)", pages = "106--117", keywords = "occlusion queries, levels of detail, occlusion culling", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/CHARALAMBOS-2007-HLOD/", } @inproceedings{MATTAUSCH-2007-OSP, title = "Optimized Subdivisions for Preprocessed Visibility", author = "Oliver Mattausch and Jir\'{i} Bittner and Peter Wonka and Michael Wimmer", year = "2007", abstract = "This paper describes a new tool for preprocessed visibility. It puts together view space and object space partitioning in order to control the render cost and memory cost of the visibility description generated by a visibility solver. The presented method progressively refines view space and object space subdivisions while minimizing the associated render and memory costs. Contrary to previous techniques, both subdivisions are driven by actual visibility information. We show that treating view space and object space together provides a powerful method for controlling the efficiency of the resulting visibility data structures.", month = may, isbn = "978-1-56881-337-0", publisher = "Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society", location = "Montreal, Canada", editor = "Christopher G. Healey and Edward Lank", booktitle = "Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2007", pages = "335--342", keywords = "visibility preprocessing, potentially visible sets, view cells", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/MATTAUSCH-2007-OSP/", } @inproceedings{GIEGL-2007-FVS, title = "Fitted Virtual Shadow Maps", author = "Markus Giegl and Michael Wimmer", year = "2007", abstract = "Too little shadow map resolution and resulting undersampling artifacts, perspective and projection aliasing, have long been a fundamental problem of shadowing scenes with shadow mapping. We present a new smart, real-time shadow mapping algorithm that virtually increases the resolution of the shadow map beyond the GPU hardware limit where needed. We first sample the scene from the eye-point on the GPU to get the needed shadow map resolution in different parts of the scene. We then process the resulting data on the CPU and finally arrive at a hierarchical grid structure, which we traverse in kd-tree fashion, shadowing the scene with shadow map tiles where needed. Shadow quality can be traded for speed through an intuitive parameter, with a homogeneous quality reduction in the whole scene, down to normal shadow mapping. This allows the algorithm to be used on a wide range of hardware.", month = may, isbn = "978-1-56881-337-0", publisher = "Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society", location = "Montreal, Canada", editor = "Christopher G. Healey and Edward Lank", booktitle = "Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2007", pages = "159--168", keywords = "real-time shadowing, shadows, shadow maps, large environemnts", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/GIEGL-2007-FVS/", } @inproceedings{GIEGL-2007-QV1, title = "Queried Virtual Shadow Maps", author = "Markus Giegl and Michael Wimmer", year = "2007", abstract = "Shadowing scenes by shadow mapping has long suffered from the fundamental problem of undersampling artifacts due to too low shadow map resolution, leading to so-called perspective and projection aliasing. In this paper we present a new real-time shadow mapping algorithm capable of shadowing large scenes by virtually increasing the resolution of the shadow map beyond the GPU hardware limit. We start with a brute force approach that uniformly increases the resolution of the whole shadow map. We then introduce a smarter version which greatly increases runtime performance while still being GPU-friendly. The algorithm contains an easy to use performance/quality-tradeoff parameter, making it tunable to a wide range of graphics hardware.", month = apr, isbn = "978-1-59593-628-8", publisher = "ACM Press", location = "Seattle, WA", address = "New York, NY, USA", booktitle = "Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 2007 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games", pages = "65--72", keywords = "shadow maps, shadows, real-time shadowing, large environemnts", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/GIEGL-2007-QV1/", } @article{GIEGL-2007-UNP, title = "Unpopping: Solving the Image-Space Blend Problem for Smooth Discrete LOD Transitions", author = "Markus Giegl and Michael Wimmer", year = "2007", abstract = "This paper presents a new, simple and practical algorithm to avoid artifacts when switching between discrete levels of detail (LOD) by smoothly blending LOD representations in image space. We analyze the alternatives of conventional alpha-blending and so-called late-switching (the switching of LODs markusquote{far enough} from the eye-point), widely thought to solve the LOD switching discontinuity problem, and conclude that they either do not work in practice, or defeat the concept of LODs. In contrast we show that our algorithm produces visually pleasing blends for static and animated discrete LODs, for discrete LODs with different types of LOD representations (e.g. billboards and meshes) and even to some extent totally different objects with similar spatial extent, with a very small runtime overhead.", month = mar, issn = "0167-7055", journal = "Computer Graphics Forum", number = "1", volume = "26", pages = "46--49", keywords = "popping, LOD switching, levels of detail, real-time rendering", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/GIEGL-2007-UNP/", } @talk{mattausch-2007-iav, title = "1. Adaptive Visibility-Driven View Cell Construction", author = "Oliver Mattausch", year = "2007", abstract = "We present a new method for the automatic partitioning of view space into a multi-level view cell hierarchy. We use a cost-based model in order to minimize the average rendering time. Unlike previous methods, our model takes into account the actual visibility in the scene, and the partition is not restricted to planes given by the scene geometry. We show that the resulting view cell hierarchy works for different types of scenes and gives lower average rendering time than previously used methods.", event = "Konversatorium", location = "Prague University of Technology", keywords = "visibiility, view cells", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/mattausch-2007-iav/", } @talk{WIMMER-2007-GAR, title = "Gametools: Advanced Rendering Effects for Next-Gen Engines", author = "Michael Wimmer", year = "2007", abstract = "The GameTools Project is an EU project from the 6th Framework Programme that brings together leading European computer graphics experts from universities in Austria, France, Hungary and Spain with European industrial partners from the fields of computer game development and virtual reality to create next generation real-time 3D libraries for Geometry, Visibility and Global Illumination for the PC platform, with an extension to consoles PS2, XBox, PS3, XBox 360 planned. With the project now completed after 3 years, this talk will introduce you to the advanced technology available partly as Open Source, partly under licensing. The project comprises technologies such as continuous multiresolution models for animated characters, massive tree rendering, robust PVS generation for visiblity determination of arbitrarily large game levels, and real-time global illumination effects such as soft shadows, real-time radiosity, caustics, cloud rendering, and many more. The effects created in the GameTools project are available as plugins that can be incorporated into any game engine, and are demonstrated with the Open Source Ogre engine.", event = "Games Convention Developers Conference 2007", location = "Leipzig, Germany", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/WIMMER-2007-GAR/", } @incollection{GIEGL-2006-QVS, title = "Queried Virtual Shadow Maps", author = "Markus Giegl and Michael Wimmer", year = "2006", abstract = "In this article we present a new real-time shadow mapping algorithm capable of shadowing large scenes by virtually increasing the resolution of the shadow map beyond the GPU hardware limit. We start with a brute force approach that uniformly increases the resolution of the whole shadow map. We then introduce a smarter version which greatly increases runtime performance while still being GPU-friendly. The algorithm contains an easy to use performance/quality-tradeoff parameter, making it tunable to a wide range of graphics hardware.", month = dec, booktitle = "ShaderX 5 -- Advanced Rendering Techniques", editor = "Wolfgang Engel", isbn = "1-58450-499-4", publisher = "Charles River Media", series = "ShaderX", volume = "5", keywords = "shadows, shadow mapping, real-time rendering", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/GIEGL-2006-QVS/", } @article{vis-foa, title = "Importance-Driven Focus of Attention", author = "Ivan Viola and Miquel Feixas and Mateu Sbert and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller", year = "2006", abstract = "This paper introduces a concept for automatic focusing on features within a volumetric data set. The user selects a focus, i.e., object of interest, from a set of pre-defined features. Our system automatically determines the most expressive view on this feature. A characteristic viewpoint is estimated by a novel information-theoretic framework which is based on the mutual information measure. Viewpoints change smoothly by switching the focus from one feature to another one. This mechanism is controlled by changes in the importance distribution among features in the volume. The highest importance is assigned to the feature in focus. Apart from viewpoint selection, the focusing mechanism also steers visual emphasis by assigning a visually more prominent representation. To allow a clear view on features that are normally occluded by other parts of the volume, the focusing for example incorporates cut-away views.", month = oct, journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics", volume = "12", number = "5", pages = "933--940", keywords = "illustrative visualization, interacting with volumetric datasets, optimal viewpoint estimation, focus+context techniques, volume visualization", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/vis-foa/", } @article{WONKA-2006-GVS, title = "Guided Visibility Sampling", author = "Peter Wonka and Michael Wimmer and Kaichi Zhou and Stefan Maierhofer and Gerd Hesina and Alexander Reshetov", year = "2006", abstract = "This paper addresses the problem of computing the triangles visible from a region in space. The proposed aggressive visibility solution is based on stochastic ray shooting and can take any triangular model as input. We do not rely on connectivity information, volumetric occluders, or the availability of large occluders, and can therefore process any given input scene. The proposed algorithm is practically memoryless, thereby alleviating the large memory consumption problems prevalent in several previous algorithms. The strategy of our algorithm is to use ray mutations in ray space to cast rays that are likely to sample new triangles. Our algorithm improves the sampling efficiency of previous work by over two orders of magnitude.", month = jul, journal = "ACM Transactions on Graphics", volume = "25", number = "3", note = "Proceedings ACM SIGGRAPH 2006", issn = "0730-0301", doi = "10.1145/1141911.1141914", pages = "494--502", keywords = "visibility, visibility sampling, occlusion culling, PVS", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/WONKA-2006-GVS/", } @inproceedings{MATTAUSCH-2006-AVC, title = "Adaptive Visibility-Driven View Cell Construction", author = "Oliver Mattausch and Jir\'{i} Bittner and Michael Wimmer", year = "2006", abstract = "We present a new method for the automatic partitioning of view space into a multi-level view cell hierarchy. We use a cost-based model in order to minimize the average rendering time. Unlike previous methods, our model takes into account the actual visibility in the scene, and the partition is not restricted to planes given by the scene geometry. We show that the resulting view cell hierarchy works for different types of scenes and gives lower average rendering time than previously used methods.", month = jun, isbn = "3-90567-335-5", publisher = "Eurographics Association", organization = "Eurographics", location = "Nicosia, Cyprus", editor = "Wolfgang Heidrich and Tomas Akenine-Moller", booktitle = "Rendering Techniques 2006 (Proceedings Eurographics Symposium on Rendering)", pages = "195--206", keywords = "view cells, real-time rendering, visibility", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/MATTAUSCH-2006-AVC/", } @talk{WIMMER-2006-SIV, title = "Sampling in Visibility", author = "Michael Wimmer", year = "2006", event = "Ayia Napa Summer Seminar on Recent Results in Rendering and Modeling in Computer Graphics", location = "Aiya Napa, Cyprus", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/WIMMER-2006-SIV/", } @talk{WIMMER-2006-PSM, title = "Practical Shadow Mapping", author = "Michael Wimmer", year = "2006", event = "Games Convention Developers Conference 2006", location = "Leipzig, Germany", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/WIMMER-2006-PSM/", } @talk{havran-2006-tut, title = "Efficient Sorting and Searching in Rendering Algorithms", author = "Vlastimil Havran and Jir\'{i} Bittner", year = "2006", abstract = "In this tutorial we would like to highlight the connection between rendering algorithms and sorting and searching as classical problems studied in computer science. We will provide both theoretical and empirical evidence that for many rendering techniques most time is spent by sorting and searching. In particular we will discuss problems and solutions for visibility computation, density estimation, and importance sampling. For each problem we mention its specific issues such as dimensionality of the search domain or online versus offline searching. We will present the underlying data structures and their enhancements in the context of specific rendering algorithms such as ray shooting, photon mapping, and hidden surface removal.", event = "Eurographics 2006 Tutorial T4", keywords = "Visibility, Sorting and Searching, Rendering", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/havran-2006-tut/", } @inproceedings{bittner-2005-egsr, title = "Fast Exact From-Region Visibility in Urban Scenes", author = "Jir\'{i} Bittner and Peter Wonka and Michael Wimmer", year = "2005", abstract = "We present a fast exact from-region visibility algorithm for 2.5D urban scenes. The algorithm uses a hierarchical subdivision of line-space for identifying visibility interactions in a 2D footprint of the scene. Visibility in the remaining vertical dimension is resolved by testing for the existence of lines stabbing sequences of virtual portals. Our results show that exact analytic from-region visibility in urban scenes can be computed at times comparable or even superior to recent conservative methods. ", month = jun, isbn = "3-905673-23-1", publisher = "Eurographics Association", organization = "Eurographics", location = "Konstanz, Germany", editor = "Kavita Bala and Philip Dutr\'{e}", booktitle = "Rendering Techniques 2005 (Proceedings Eurographics Symposium on Rendering)", pages = "223--230", keywords = "real-time rendering, visibility", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/bittner-2005-egsr/", } @inproceedings{jeschke-05-AIP, title = "Automatic Impostor Placement for Guaranteed Frame Rates and Low Memory Requirements", author = "Stefan Jeschke and Michael Wimmer and Heidrun Schumann and Werner Purgathofer", year = "2005", abstract = "Impostors are image-based primitives commonly used to replace complex geometry in order to reduce the rendering time needed for displaying complex scenes. However, a big problem is the huge amount of memory required for impostors. This paper presents an algorithm that automatically places impostors into a scene so that a desired frame rate and image quality is always met, while at the same time not requiring enormous amounts of impostor memory. The low memory requirements are provided by a new placement method and through the simultaneous use of other acceleration techniques like visibility culling and geometric levels of detail.", month = apr, isbn = "1-59593-013-2", publisher = "ACM Press", organization = "ACM", location = "Washington DC", booktitle = "Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games", pages = "103--110", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/jeschke-05-AIP/", } @incollection{Wimmer-2005-HOQ, title = "Hardware Occlusion Queries Made Useful", author = "Michael Wimmer and Jir\'{i} Bittner", year = "2005", abstract = "Hardware occlusion queries make it possible for an application to ask the 3D API whether or not any pixels would be drawn if a particular object was rendered. With this feature, applications can check to see whether or not the bounding boxes of complex objects are visible; if the bounds are occluded, the application can skip drawing those objects. In this chapter, we present a simple and powerful algorithm to solve the problem of latency and CPU/GPU stall typically associated with a naive usage of hardware occlusion queries.", month = mar, booktitle = "GPU Gems 2: Programming Techniques for High-Performance Graphics and General-Purpose Computation", editor = "Matt Pharr and Randima Fernando", isbn = "0-32133-559-7", publisher = "Addison-Wesley", keywords = "occlusion culling, real-time rendering", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/Wimmer-2005-HOQ/", } @inproceedings{havran-2005-egsr, title = "Ray Maps for Global Illumination", author = "Vlastimil Havran and Jir\'{i} Bittner and Robert Herzog and Hans-Peter Seidel", year = "2005", abstract = "We describe a novel data structure for representing light transport called ray map. The ray map extends the concept of photon maps: it stores not only photon impacts but the whole photon paths. We demonstrate the utility of ray maps for global illumination by eliminating boundary bias and reducing topological bias of density estimation in global illumination. Thanks to the elimination of boundary bias we could use ray maps for fast direct visualization with the image quality being close to that obtained by the expensive nal gathering step. We describe in detail our implementation of the ray map using a lazily constructed kD-tree. We also present several optimizations bringing the ray map query performance close to the performance of the photon map.", booktitle = "Eurographics Symposium on Rendering", pages = "43--54", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/havran-2005-egsr/", }