Abstract
Two reduced complexity algorithms that enable the efficient determination of form factors are described. The preliminary complexity computations show that the new methods are at least five times faster than a previously proposed technique for practical problem sizes. Both methods trace back the special 3D visibility task inherent to the form factor calculation to 2D hidden-line elimination using special scane planes. The basic operations are planar rotations. Moreover, the proposed algorithms are highly parallel, pipelineable, and suitable for multiprocessor implementation. The basic processing unit is an ASIC-type CORDIC computing element.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bu J, Deprettere EF (1989) A VLSI system architecture for high-speed radiative transfer 3D image synthesis. The Visual Computer 5(2):121–133
Cohen MF, Greenberg DP (1985) The hemi-cube: a radiosity solution for complex environments. Comput Graph 19(3):31–39
Cohen MF, Chen SE, Wallace JR, Greenberg DP (1988) A progressive refinement approach to fast radiosity image generation. Comput Graph 22(4):75–84
Déval F (1984) Complexity of two-dimensional visibility computations. Proc 3rd European Conference on CAD/CAM and Computer Graphics, pp 827–841
Goral Ke, Torrance DP, Greenberg DP (1984) Modelling the interaction of light between diffuse surfaces. Comput Graph 18(3):213–222
Immel DS, Cohen MF, Greenberg DP (1986) A radiosity method for non-diffuse enviroments. Comput Graph 20(4):133–142
Kocsis F, Böhme JF (1990a) Rotation-based computations for ray-tracing second-order surfaces and curves. Info Proc Lett 36(6):281–283
Kocsis F, Böhme JF (1990b) Some possible applications of CORDIC processors in computer graphics. Proc EURO-GRAPHICS '90 pp 17–29
König D, Böhme JF (1990) Optimizing the CORDIC algorithm for processors with pipeline architecture. Proc EUSIPCO '90, pp 1391–1394
Kung HT (1986) Memory requirements for balanced computer architectures. Proc 13th Annual Symposium on Computer Architecture, pp 49–54
McKenna M (1987) Worst-case optimal hidden-surface removal. ACM Trans Graph 6(1):19–28
Moldovan D, Fortes JAB (1986) Partitioning and mapping into fixed size systolic arrays. IEEE Trans on Computers C-35 (1):1–12
Nusselt W (1928) Graphische Bestimmung des Winkelverhältnisses bei der Wärmestrahlung. VDI Zeitung 72(20):673
Poulton J, Fuchs H, Austin JD, Eyles JG, Heinecke J, Hsieh C, Goldfeather J, Hultquist JP, Spach S (1985) Pixel-planes: building a VLSI-based graphic system. Proc Chapel Hill Conference on VLSI
Shao M-Z, Peng Q-S, Liang Y-D (1988) A new radiosity approach by procedural refinements for realistic image synthesis. Comput Graph 22(4):93–101
Umeo H, Nakatsuka I (1987) A design of pipeline-interval-optimum systolic priority queue. Trans IECE E70(1):20–23
Volder JE (1959) The CORDIC trigonometric computing technique. IRE Trans on Electronic Computers EC-5(9):330–334
Wallace JR, Cohen MF, Greenberg DP (1987) A two-pass solution to the rendering equation: a synthesis of ray tracing and radiosity methods. Comput Graph 21(4):311–320
Walther JS (1971) A unified algorithm for elementary functions. Proc Spring Joint Computer Conference, pp 379–385
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Part of the paper presented as an extended abstract, International Workshop on Algorithms and Parallel Architectures, June 10–16, 1990, Pont-à-Mousson, France
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kocsis, F., Böhme, J.F. Fast algorithms and parallel structures for form factor evaluation. The Visual Computer 8, 205–216 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01900656
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01900656