Interactive ray tracing on a virtual shared-memory parallel computer

This paper describes the results of experiments with accelerated ray tracing on a virtual shared-memory parallel computer and attempts to determine whether this kind of architecture would be suitable for an interactive ray tracing system. The machine used, the Kendall Square Research KSR1, is described in sufficient detail for its novel features to be appreciated. The paper describes a new ray tracer written specifically to capitalise on the KSR1's features. Models used in the experiments include well-known test cases from the Haines database, permitting comparison with previously reported results. The results show that the program scales well up to 230 processors, and that with progressive rendering initial rendering times can be reduced to as little as 0.2 second on 32 processors.