Sphere Tracing GPU An evaluation of the Sphere Tracing algorithm and a GPU designed to run it

Abstract

This thesis documents our experiences and conclusions during the design of a graphics processing unit (GPU), specifically designed and optimized for executing the Sphere Tracing algorithm, which is a variation of the standard Ray Tracing algorithm. The GPU is written in the functional hardware description language CaSH. A shader was also implemented in GLSL to enable algorithm research. Real-time rendering performance has always been a significant factor for 3D graphics cards. However, using the Sphere Tracing algorithm on conventional 3D graphics cards is slow because they are designed and built for polygon based rendering. We assessed potential performance improvements using our GLSL shader. The results indicate that it is possible to increase the performance of the Sphere Tracing algorithm.