An algorithm for progressive raytracing

Abstract

Progressive generation of images is one of the important re- search areas of computer graphics. Especially, when the image generation takes too much time the users want to see the progress in the rendering process. The user may decide either to continue the rendering process or stop the rendering according to the current view of the image. This may be due to the fact that either the image is produced to enough detail for the user or the user does not want to continue the rendering process for some reason. This is especially important for progressive transmission of images over the Internet. The images may be progressively transmitted and when the detail level of the image is enough for the user, the trans- mission process may stop. In this paper, we survey the progressive image generation techniques and present an algorithm for progressive genera- tion of raytraced images. The algorithm utilizes a refinement technique that is similar to the one used in generating interlaced images in a pro- gressive manner.