GPU-Based Ray Tracing of Splats

When it comes to rendering models available as points, rather than meshes, splats are a common intermediate internal representation. In this paper we further the state of the art by ray tracing splats to produce expected effects such as reflections, refraction, and shadows. We render complex models at interactive frame rates allowing real time viewpoint, lighting, and material changes. Our system relies on efficient techniques of storing and traversing point models on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).