high performance computing on graphics processing units: hgpu.org

Ray tracing is a very popular way to draw 3-D scenes onto a 2-D image. The technique produces a very high degree of visual realism with regard to shadows, reflection, and refraction. The drawback of this technique is the fact that it is extremely computationally expensive. This expense has been a barrier to using ray tracing to implement real-time rendering. Recent technological advances have fueled increased interest in the technique because the prospect of real-time ray tracing in commercial applications is now closer to becoming a reality. This thesis is an attempt to quantify the degree of speed-up, in terms of raw processing power, that this new class of GPU hardware makes possible.