“Rethinking Graphics and Gaming Courses Because of Fast Ray Tracing” by Shirley, Sung, Brunvand, Davis, Parker, et al. …
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Title:
- Rethinking Graphics and Gaming Courses Because of Fast Ray Tracing
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Abstract:
Almost all current games are implemented using the graphics processing units (GPUs) found on almost every PC. These GPUs use the z-buffer algorithm to do visibility calculations. Ray tracing, an alternative to the z-buffer algorithm, delivers higher visual quality than the z-buffer algorithm but has historically been too slow for interactive use. However, ray tracing has benefitted from improvements in computer hardware, and many believe it will replace the z-buffer algorithm as the visibility engine in games. If that replacement happens, it will imply fundamental changes in both the API to and capabilities of 3D graphics engines. This paper discusses the implications for games and graphics oriented classes should this switch to ray tracing occur.
Acknowledgements:
This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation grants DUE-0442420, NSF-0541009, and NSF 03-06151; and a grant from the Microsoft Research Gaming RFP award number 15871. All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or Microsoft.
