largedatavisualizationinitiative: results: parallel volume rendering
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The Volume Rendering Cluster is currently being implemented
to increase the size of a volume capable of being rendered,
by merging results from individual PC's to create one single
composite image.
not only through regular ethernet but also using a devoted pixel
bus for image transfer across the machines.
The special hardware for the pixel bus was create by Compaq
Tandem Laboratories, yielding the Sepia Card as feactured in
several publications in Siggraph and Vis.
Concurrently, the volume rendering is accomplished using the
VolPRO 500, by Misubishi/RTViz, which does realtime hardware
raycasting volume rendering, yielding a flat image which can
then be sent across the pixel bus.
Through collaborations with Compaq/Tandem and RTViz we have implemented this solution as demonstrated, increasing almost seamlessly the size of the volume rendering capabilities by a factor of almost 4; but in theory easily being able to grow to up to a factor of 64 and above, only being limited by the cost of the hardware. |
