Improving real time computer graphics quality using hybrid rendering

Abstract

In computer graphics, there are two general approaches to achieve a picture that resembles reality; rasterization and ray tracing. Rasterization is often used for real time purposes. However, this approach makes it hard and costly to achieve some effects physically correct, for instance reflections and refractions. Ray tracing is a technique that is usually used for offline rendering but makes it much simpler to achieve correct reflections and refractions. Hybrid rendering combines rasterization and ray tracing in a way that tries to benefit from both techniques. This thesis examine hybrid rendering solutions for real time use in the graphics engine Ogre3D using the ray tracing platform Nvidia Optix. The study has resulted in a plugin for Ogre3D that implements some of the usual raytracing techniques and allows the user to mark some of the virtual scene to be ray traced in real time, while the rest of the scene is rasterized.