Visibility-based prefetching for interactive out-of-core rendering

Abstract

We present a new visibility-based prefetching algorithm for interactive out-of-core rendering of large models on an inexpensive PC. Using an approximate visibility technique, we can very accurately and efficiently determine which geometry will be visible in the near future and prefetch that geometry from disk before it must be rendered. Our prefetching algorithm is a key part of a visualization system capable of rendering a 13-million triangle model with 99% accuracy at interactive frame rates. Our prefetching algorithm is the first of its kind to be based on a from-point visibility technique, and enables interactive rendering on a commodity PC, as opposed to expensive high-end graphics workstations or parallel machines.