Evaluation of rendering algorithms using position-dependent scene properties

Abstract

In order to evaluate the efficiency of algorithms for real-time 3D rendering, different properties like rendering time, occluded triangles, or image quality, need to be investigated. Since these properties depend on the position of the camera, usually some camera path is chosen, along which the measurements are performed. As those measurements cover only a small part of the scene, this approach hardly allows drawing conclusions regarding the algorithm's properties at arbitrary positions in the scene. The presented method allows the systematic and position-independent evaluation of rendering algorithms. It uses an adaptive sampling approach to approximate the distribution of a property (like rendering time) for all positions in the scene. This approximation can be visualized to produce an intuitive impression of the algorithm's behavior or be statistically analyzed for objectively rating and comparing algorithms. We demonstrate our method by evaluating performance aspects of a known occlusion culling algorithm. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.