Title :
Load balancing of parallel volume rendering with scattered decomposition
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra, ACT, Australia
Abstract :
A scheme for the visualization of large data volumes using volume rendering on a distributed memory MIMD system is described. The data to be rendered is decomposed into subvolumes to reside in the local memories of the system´s nodes. A partial image of the local data is generated at each node by ray tracing, and is then composited with partial images on other nodes in the correct order to generate the complete Image. Subvolumes whose voxels are classified as being mapped to zero opacity are not rendered, giving rise to an imbalance of work amongst nodes. Scattered decomposition is used for load balancing, which on one hand: creates additional overheads in compositing and communication, but on the other, provides an improvement in throughput that is dependent on the characteristics of the data. Experimental results for a typical data set rendered on a 1024-node Fujitsu AP1000 are reported
Keywords :
data visualisation; distributed memory systems; parallel architectures; ray tracing; rendering (computer graphics); resource allocation; 1024-node Fujitsu AP1000; distributed memory MIMD system; large data volume visualization; load balancing; local memories; parallel volume rendering; partial image; ray tracing; scattered decomposition; typical data set; voxels; zero opacity; Application software; Casting; Computer science; Data visualization; Load management; Proposals; Ray tracing; Rendering (computer graphics); Scattering; Throughput;
Conference_Titel :
Scalable High-Performance Computing Conference, 1994., Proceedings of the
Conference_Location :
Knoxville, TN
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-5680-8
DOI :
10.1109/SHPCC.1994.296651
