% Embree: High Performance Ray Tracing Kernels 2.14.0
% Intel Corporation
Embree Overview
===============
Embree is a collection of high-performance ray tracing kernels,
developed at Intel. The target user of Embree are graphics application
engineers that want to improve the performance of their application by
leveraging the optimized ray tracing kernels of Embree. The kernels
are optimized for photo-realistic rendering on the latest Intel®
processors with support for SSE, AVX, AVX2, and AVX512. Embree
supports runtime code selection to choose the traversal and build
algorithms that best matches the instruction set of your CPU. We
recommend using Embree through its API to get the highest benefit from
future improvements. Embree is released as Open Source under the
[Apache 2.0 license](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).
Embree supports applications written with the Intel SPMD Program
Compiler (ISPC, ) by also providing an ISPC
interface to the core ray tracing algorithms. This makes it possible
to write a renderer in ISPC that leverages SSE, AVX, AVX2, and AVX512
without any code change. ISPC also supports runtime code selection,
thus ISPC will select the best code path for your application, while
Embree selects the optimal code path for the ray tracing algorithms.
Embree contains algorithms optimized for incoherent workloads (e.g.
Monte Carlo ray tracing algorithms) and coherent workloads
(e.g. primary visibility and hard shadow rays). For standard CPUs, the
single-ray traversal kernels in Embree provide the best performance
for incoherent workloads and are very easy to integrate into existing
rendering applications. For AVX512 enabled machines, a renderer
written in ISPC using the default hybrid ray/packet traversal
algorithms have shown to perform best, but requires writing the
renderer in ISPC. In general for coherent workloads, ISPC outperforms
the single ray mode on each platform. Embree also supports dynamic
scenes by implementing high performance two-level spatial index
structure construction algorithms.
In addition to the ray tracing kernels, Embree provides some tutorials
to demonstrate how to use the [Embree API]. The example photorealistic
renderer that was originally included in the Embree kernel package is
now available in a separate GIT repository (see [Embree Example
Renderer]).
Supported Platforms
-------------------
Embree supports Windows (32 bit and 64 bit), Linux (64 bit) and Mac
OS X (64 bit). The code compiles with the Intel Compiler, GCC, Clang
and the Microsoft Compiler.
Using the Intel Compiler improves performance by approximately
10%. Performance also varies across different operating
systems, with Linux typically performing best as it supports
transparently transitioning to 2MB pages.
Embree is optimized for Intel CPUs supporting SSE, AVX, AVX2, and
AVX-512 instructions, and requires at least a CPU with support for
SSE2.
Contributing to Embree
----------------------
To contribute code to the Embree repository you need to sign a
Contributor License Agreement (CLA). Individuals need to fill out the
[Individual Contributor License Agreement (ICLA)]. Corporations need to
fill out the [Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA)] and each
employee that wants to contribute has to fill out an [Individual
Contributor License Agreement (ICLA)]. Please follow the instructions of
the CLA forms to send them.
Embree Support and Contact
--------------------------
If you encounter bugs please report them via [Embree's GitHub Issue
Tracker](https://github.com/embree/embree/issues).
For questions please write us at .
To receive notifications of updates and new features of Embree please
subscribe to the [Embree mailing
list](https://groups.google.com/d/forum/embree/).
Acknowledgements
----------------
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
Installation of Embree
======================
Windows Installer
-----------------
You can install the 64 bit version of the Embree library using the
Windows installer application
[embree-2.14.0-x64.exe](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x64.exe). This
will install the 64 bit Embree version by default in `Program
Files\Intel\Embree v2.14.0 x64`. To install the 32 bit
Embree library use the
[embree-2.14.0-win32.exe](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.win32.exe)
installer. This will install the 32 bit Embree version by default in
`Program Files\Intel\Embree v2.14.0 win32` on 32 bit
systems and `Program Files (x86)\Intel\Embree v2.14.0 win32`
on 64 bit systems.
You have to set the path to the `lib` folder manually to your `PATH`
environment variable for applications to find Embree. To compile
applications with Embree you also have to set the `Include
Directories` path in Visual Studio to the `include` folder of the
Embree installation.
To uninstall Embree again open `Programs and Features` by clicking the
`Start button`, clicking `Control Panel`, clicking `Programs`, and
then clicking `Programs and Features`. Select `Embree
2.14.0` and uninstall it.
Windows ZIP File
-----------------
Embree is also delivered as a ZIP file for 64 bit
[embree-2.14.0.x64.windows.zip](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x64.windows.zip)
and 32 bit
[embree-2.14.0.win32.windows.zip](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.win32.windows.zip). After
unpacking this ZIP file you should set the path to the `lib` folder
manually to your `PATH` environment variable for applications to find
Embree. To compile applications with Embree you also have to set the
`Include Directories` path in Visual Studio to the `include` folder of
the Embree installation.
If you plan to ship Embree with your application, best use the Embree
version from this ZIP file.
Linux RPMs
----------
Uncompress the 'tar.gz' file
[embree-2.14.0.x86_64.rpm.tar.gz](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x86_64.rpm.tar.gz)
to
obtain the individual RPM files:
tar xzf embree-2.14.0.x86_64.rpm.tar.gz
To install the Embree using the RPM packages on your Linux system type
the following:
sudo rpm --install embree-lib-2.14.0-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm --install embree-devel-2.14.0-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm --install embree-examples-2.14.0-1.x86_64.rpm
You also have to install the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB)
using `yum`:
sudo yum install tbb.x86_64 tbb-devel.x86_64
or via `apt-get`:
sudo apt-get install libtbb-dev
Alternatively you can download the latest TBB version from
[https://www.threadingbuildingblocks.org/download](https://www.threadingbuildingblocks.org/download)
and set the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` environment variable to point
to the TBB library.
Note that the Embree RPMs are linked against the TBB version coming
with CentOS. This older TBB version is missing some features required
to get optimal build performance and does not support building of
scenes lazily during rendering. To get a full featured Embree please
install using the tar.gz files, which always ship with the latest TBB version.
Under Linux Embree is installed by default in the `/usr/lib` and
`/usr/include` directories. This way applications will find Embree
automatically. The Embree tutorials are installed into the
`/usr/bin/embree2` folder. Specify the full path to
the tutorials to start them.
To uninstall Embree again just execute the following:
sudo rpm --erase embree-lib-2.14.0-1.x86_64
sudo rpm --erase embree-devel-2.14.0-1.x86_64
sudo rpm --erase embree-examples-2.14.0-1.x86_64
Linux tar.gz files
------------------
The Linux version of Embree is also delivered as a tar.gz file
[embree-2.14.0.x86_64.linux.tar.gz](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x86_64.linux.tar.gz). Unpack
this file using `tar` and source the provided `embree-vars.sh` (if you
are using the bash shell) or `embree-vars.csh` (if you are using the
C shell) to setup the environment properly:
tar xzf embree-2.14.0.x64.linux.tar.gz
source embree-2.14.0.x64.linux/embree-vars.sh
If you want to ship Embree with your application best use the Embree
version provided through the tar.gz file.
We recommend adding a relative RPATH to your application that points
to the location Embree (and TBB) can be found, e.g. `$ORIGIN/../lib`.
Mac OS X PKG Installer
-----------------------
To install the Embree library on your Mac OS X system use the
provided package installer inside
[embree-2.14.0.x86_64.dmg](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x86_64.dmg). This
will install Embree by default into `/opt/local/lib` and
`/opt/local/include` directories. The Embree tutorials are installed
into the `/Applications/Embree2` folder.
You also have to install the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB)
using [MacPorts](http://www.macports.org/):
sudo port install tbb
Alternatively you can download the latest TBB version from
[https://www.threadingbuildingblocks.org/download](https://www.threadingbuildingblocks.org/download)
and set the `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` environment variable to point
to the TBB library.
To uninstall Embree again execute the uninstaller script
`/Applications/Embree2/uninstall.command`.
Mac OS X tar.gz file
---------------------
The Mac OS X version of Embree is also delivered as a tar.gz file
[embree-2.14.0.x86_64.macosx.tar.gz](https://github.com/embree/embree/releases/download/v2.14.0/embree-2.14.0.x86_64.macosx.tar.gz). Unpack
this file using `tar` and source the provided `embree-vars.sh` (if you
are using the bash shell) or `embree-vars.csh` (if you are using the
C shell) to setup the environment properly:
tar xzf embree-2.14.0.x64.macosx.tar.gz
source embree-2.14.0.x64.macosx/embree-vars.sh
If you want to ship Embree with your application please use the Embree
library of the provided tar.gz file. The library name of that Embree
library is of the form `@rpath/libembree.2.dylib`
(and similar also for the included TBB library). This ensures that you
can add a relative RPATH to your application that points to the location
Embree (and TBB) can be found, e.g. `@loader_path/../lib`.
Linking ISPC applications with Embree
-------------------------------------
The precompiled Embree library uses the multi-target mode of ISPC. For
your ISPC application to properly link against Embree you also have to
enable this mode. You can do this by specifying multiple targets when
compiling your application with ISPC, e.g.:
ispc --target sse2,sse4,avx,avx2 -o code.o code.ispc
Compiling Embree
================
We recommend to use CMake to build Embree. Do not enable fast-math
optimization, these might break Embree.
Linux and Mac OS X
-------------------
To compile Embree you need a modern C++ compiler that supports C++11.
Embree is tested with Intel® Compiler 16.0.4, Clang 3.8.0, and GCC
5.4.0. If the GCC that comes with your Fedora/Red Hat/CentOS
distribution is too old then you can run the provided script
`scripts/install_linux_gcc.sh` to locally install a recent GCC into
`$HOME/devtools-2`.
Embree supports to use the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB) as
tasking system. For performance and flexibility reasons we recommend
to use Embree with the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB) and best
also use TBB inside your application. Optionally you can disable TBB
in Embree through the `EMBREE_TASKING_SYSTEM` CMake variable.
Embree supports the Intel® SPMD Program Compiler (ISPC), which allows
straight forward parallelization of an entire renderer. If you do not
want to use ISPC then you can disable `ENABLE_ISPC_SUPPORT` in
CMake. Otherwise, download and install the ISPC binaries (we have
tested ISPC version 1.9.0) from
[ispc.github.io](https://ispc.github.io/downloads.html). After
installation, put the path to `ispc` permanently into your `PATH`
environment variable or you need to correctly set the
`ISPC_EXECUTABLE` variable during CMake configuration.
You additionally have to install CMake 2.8.11 or higher and the developer
version of GLUT.
Under Mac OS X, all these dependencies can be installed
using [MacPorts](http://www.macports.org/):
sudo port install cmake tbb freeglut
Depending on your Linux distribution you can install these dependencies
using `yum` or `apt-get`. Some of these packages might already be
installed or might have slightly different names.
Type the following to install the dependencies using `yum`:
sudo yum install cmake.x86_64
sudo yum install tbb.x86_64 tbb-devel.x86_64
sudo yum install freeglut.x86_64 freeglut-devel.x86_64
sudo yum install libXmu.x86_64 libXi.x86_64
sudo yum install libXmu-devel.x86_64 libXi-devel.x86_64
Type the following to install the dependencies using `apt-get`:
sudo apt-get install cmake-curses-gui
sudo apt-get install libtbb-dev
sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev
sudo apt-get install libxmu-dev libxi-dev
Finally you can compile Embree using CMake. Create a build directory
inside the Embree root directory and execute `ccmake ..` inside this
build directory.
mkdir build
cd build
ccmake ..
Per default CMake will use the compilers specified with the `CC` and
`CXX` environment variables. Should you want to use a different
compiler, run `cmake` first and set the `CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER` and
`CMAKE_C_COMPILER` variables to the desired compiler. For example, to
use the Intel Compiler instead of the default GCC on most Linux machines
(`g++` and `gcc`) execute
cmake -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=icpc -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=icc ..
Similarly, to use Clang set the variables to `clang++` and `clang`,
respectively. Note that the compiler variables cannot be changed anymore
after the first run of `cmake` or `ccmake`.
Running `ccmake` will open a dialog where you can perform various
configurations as described below in [CMake Configuration]. After having
configured Embree, press c (for configure) and g (for generate) to
generate a Makefile and leave the configuration. The code can be
compiled by executing make.
make
The executables will be generated inside the build folder. We recommend
to finally install the Embree library and header files on your
system. Therefore set the `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` to `/usr` in cmake
and type:
sudo make install
If you keep the default `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` of `/usr/local` then
you have to make sure the path `/usr/local/lib` is in your
`LD_LIBRARY_PATH`.
You can also uninstall Embree again by executing:
sudo make uninstall
If you cannot install Embree on your system (e.g. when you don't have
administrator rights) you need to add embree_root_directory/build to
your `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`.
Windows
-------
Embree is tested under Windows using the Visual Studio 2015 (Update 1)
compiler (Win32 and x64), Visual Studio 2013 (Update 5) compiler
(Win32 and x64), Visual Studio 2012 (Update 4) compiler (x64 only),
Intel® Compiler 16.0.1 (Win32 and x64), and Clang 3.9 (x64
only). Using the Visual Studio 2015 compiler, Visual Studio 2013
compiler, Intel Compiler, and Clang you can compile Embree for AVX2, while
Visual Studio 2012 supports at most AVX. To compile Embree for AVX512
you have to use the Intel Compiler.
Embree supports to use the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB) as
tasking system. For performance and flexibility reasons we recommend
to use Embree with the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB) and best
also use TBB inside your application. Optionally you can disable TBB
in Embree through the `EMBREE_TASKING_SYSTEM` CMake variable.
Embree will either find the Intel® Threading Building Blocks (TBB)
installation that comes with the Intel® Compiler, or you can install the
binary distribution of TBB directly from
[www.threadingbuildingblocks.org](https://www.threadingbuildingblocks.org/download)
into a folder named tbb into your Embree root directory. You also have
to make sure that the libraries tbb.dll and tbb_malloc.dll can be found when
executing your Embree applications, e.g. by putting the path to these
libraries into your `PATH` environment variable.
Embree supports the Intel® SPMD Program Compiler (ISPC), which allows
straight forward parallelization of an entire renderer. If you do not
want to use ISPC then you can disable `ENABLE_ISPC_SUPPORT` in
CMake. Otherwise, download and install the ISPC binaries (we have
tested ISPC version 1.9.0) from
[ispc.github.io](https://ispc.github.io/downloads.html). After
installation, put the path to `ispc.exe` permanently into your `PATH`
environment variable or you need to correctly set the
`ISPC_EXECUTABLE` variable during CMake configuration.
You additionally have to install [CMake](http://www.cmake.org/download/)
(version 2.8.11 or higher). Note that you need a native Windows CMake
installation, because CMake under Cygwin cannot generate solution files
for Visual Studio.
### Using the IDE
Run `cmake-gui`, browse to the Embree sources, set the build directory
and click Configure. Now you can select the Generator, e.g. "Visual
Studio 12 2013" for a 32 bit build or "Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64"
for a 64 bit build. If you want to use Clang for compilation, you
have to specify LLVM-vs2013 as "Optional toolset to use (-T
parameter)". Most configuration parameters described in the
[CMake Configuration] can be set under Windows as well. Finally, click
"Generate" to create the Visual Studio solution files.
------------------------- ------------------ ----------------------------
Option Description Default
------------------------- ------------------ ----------------------------
CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPE List of generated Debug;Release;RelWithDebInfo
configurations.
USE_STATIC_RUNTIME Use the static OFF
version of the
C/C++ runtime
library.
------------------------- ------------------ ----------------------------
: Windows-specific CMake build options for Embree.
For compilation of Embree under Windows use the generated Visual Studio
solution file `embree2.sln`. The solution is by default setup to use the
Microsoft Compiler. You can switch to the Intel Compiler by right
clicking onto the solution in the Solution Explorer and then selecting
the Intel Compiler. We recommend using 64 bit mode and the Intel
Compiler for best performance.
To build Embree with support for the AVX2 instruction set you need at
least Visual Studio 2013 Update 4. When switching to the Intel Compiler
to build with AVX2 you currently need to manually *remove* the switch
`/arch:AVX2` from the `embree_avx2` project, which can be found under
Properties ⇒ C/C++ ⇒ All Options ⇒ Additional Options.
To build all projects of the solution it is recommend to build the CMake
utility project `ALL_BUILD`, which depends on all projects. Using "Build
Solution" would also build all other CMake utility projects (such as
`INSTALL`), which is usually not wanted.
We recommend enabling syntax highlighting for the `.ispc` source and
`.isph` header files. To do so open Visual Studio, go to Tools ⇒
Options ⇒ Text Editor ⇒ File Extension and add the isph and ispc
extension for the "Microsoft Visual C++" editor.
### Using the Command Line
Embree can also be configured and built without the IDE using the Visual
Studio command prompt:
cd path\to\embree
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64" ..
cmake --build . --config Release
To switch to the Intel Compiler use
ICProjConvert150 embree2.sln /IC /s /f
You can also build only some projects with the `--target` switch.
Additional parameters after "`--`" will be passed to `msbuild`. For
example, to build the Embree library in parallel use
cmake --build . --config Release --target embree -- /m
CMake Configuration
-------------------
The default CMake configuration in the configuration dialog should be
appropriate for most usages. The following table describes all
parameters that can be configured in CMake:
---------------------------- -------------------------------- --------
Option Description Default
---------------------------- -------------------------------- --------
CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Can be used to switch between Release
Debug mode (Debug), Release
mode (Release), and Release
mode with enabled assertions
and debug symbols
(RelWithDebInfo).
EMBREE_ISPC_SUPPORT Enables ISPC support of Embree. ON
EMBREE_STATIC_LIB Builds Embree as a static OFF
library. When using the
statically compiled Embree
library, you have to define
ENABLE_STATIC_LIB before
including rtcore.h in your
application.
EMBREE_TUTORIALS Enables build of Embree ON
tutorials.
EMBREE_BACKFACE_CULLING Enables backface culling, i.e. OFF
only surfaces facing a ray can
be hit.
EMBREE_INTERSECTION_FILTER Enables the intersection filter ON
feature.
EMBREE_INTERSECTION_FILTER Restore previous hit when ON
_RESTORE ignoring hits.
EMBREE_RAY_MASK Enables the ray masking feature. OFF
EMBREE_RAY_PACKETS Enables ray packet support. ON
EMBREE_IGNORE_INVALID_RAYS Makes code robust against the OFF
risk of full-tree traversals
caused by invalid rays (e.g.
rays containing INF/NaN as
origins).
EMBREE_TASKING_SYSTEM Chooses between Intel® Threading TBB
Building Blocks (TBB) or an
internal tasking system
(INTERNAL).
EMBREE_MAX_ISA Select highest supported ISA AVX2
(SSE2, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2,
AVX512KNL, AVX512SKX, or NONE).
When set to NONE the EMBREE_ISA_*
variables can be used to enable
ISAs individually.
EMBREE_ISA_SSE42 Enables SSE4.2 when OFF
EMBREE_MAX_ISA is set to NONE.
EMBREE_ISA_AVX Enables AVX when OFF
EMBREE_MAX_ISA is set to NONE.
EMBREE_ISA_AVX2 Enables AVX2 when OFF
EMBREE_MAX_ISA is set to NONE.
EMBREE_ISA_AVX512KNL Enables AVX512 for Xeon Phi when OFF
EMBREE_MAX_ISA is set to NONE.
EMBREE_ISA_AVX512SKX Enables AVX512 for Skylake when OFF
EMBREE_MAX_ISA is set to NONE.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_TRIANGLES Enables support for triangle ON
geometries.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_QUADS Enables support for quad ON
geometries.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_LINES Enables support for line ON
geometries.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_HAIR Enables support for hair ON
geometries.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_SUBDIV Enables support for subdiv ON
geometries.
EMBREE_GEOMETRY_USER Enables support for user ON
geometries.
---------------------------- -------------------------------- --------
: CMake build options for Embree.
Embree API
==========
The Embree API is a low level ray tracing API that supports defining
and committing of geometry and performing ray queries of different
types. Static and dynamic scenes are supported, that may contain
triangle geometries, quad geometries, line segment geometries, hair
geometries, analytic bezier curves, subdivision meshes, instanced
geometries, and user defined geometries. For each geometry type
multi-segment motion blur is supported, including support for
transformation motion blur of instances. Supported ray queries are,
finding the closest scene intersection along a ray, and testing a ray
segment for any intersection with the scene. Single rays, as well as
packets of rays in a struct of array layout can be used for packet
sizes of 1, 4, 8, and 16 rays. Using the ray stream interface a stream
of an arbitrary number `M` of ray packets of arbitrary size `N` can be
processed. Filter callback functions are supported, that get invoked
for every intersection encountered during traversal.
The Embree API exists in a C++ and ISPC version. This document
describes the C++ version of the API, the ISPC version is almost
identical. The only differences are that the ISPC version needs some
ISPC specific `uniform` type modifiers, and has special functions that
operate on ray packets of the native SIMD size the ISPC code is
compiled for.
Embree supports two modes for a scene, the `normal mode` and `stream
mode`, which require different ray queries and callbacks to be
used. The `normal mode` is the default, but we will switch entirely to
the ray `stream mode` in a later release.
The user is supposed to include the `embree2/rtcore.h`, and the
`embree2/rtcore_ray.h` file, but none of the other header files. If
using the ISPC version of the API, the user should include
`embree2/rtcore.isph` and `embree2/rtcore_ray.isph`.
#include
#include
All API calls carry the prefix `rtc` which stands for **r**ay
**t**racing **c**ore. Embree supports a device concept, which allows
different components of the application to use the API without
interfering with each other. You have to create at least one Embree
device through the `rtcNewDevice` call. Before the application exits
it should delete all devices by invoking
`rtcDeleteDevice`. An application typically creates a single device
only, and should create only a small number of devices.
RTCDevice device = rtcNewDevice(NULL);
...
rtcDeleteDevice(device);
It is strongly recommended to have the `Flush to Zero` and `Denormals
are Zero` mode of the MXCSR control and status register enabled for
each thread before calling the `rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded`
functions. Otherwise, under some circumstances special handling of
denormalized floating point numbers can significantly reduce
application and Embree performance. When using Embree together with
the Intel® Threading Building Blocks, it is sufficient to execute the
following code at the beginning of the application main thread (before
the creation of the `tbb::task_scheduler_init` object):
#include
#include
...
_MM_SET_FLUSH_ZERO_MODE(_MM_FLUSH_ZERO_ON);
_MM_SET_DENORMALS_ZERO_MODE(_MM_DENORMALS_ZERO_ON);
Embree processes some implementation specific configuration from the
following locations in the specified order:
1) configuration string passed to the `rtcNewDevice` function
2) `.embree2` file in the application folder
3) `.embree2` file in the home folder
Settings performed later overwrite previous settings. This way the
configuration for the application can be changed globally (either
through the `rtcNewDevice` call or through the `.embree2` file in the
application folder) and each user has the option to modify the
configuration to fit its needs. Configuration files can be ignored by
the application by passing `ignore_config_files=1` to `rtcNewDevice`.
API calls that access geometries are only thread safe as long as
different geometries are accessed. Accesses to one geometry have to
get sequenced by the application. All other API calls are thread
safe. The API calls are re-entrant, it is thus safe to trace new rays
and create new geometry when intersecting a user defined object.
Each user thread has its own error flag per device. If an error occurs
when invoking some API function, this flag is set to an error code if it
stores no previous error. The `rtcDeviceGetError` function reads and returns
the currently stored error and clears the error flag again.
Possible error codes returned by `rtcDeviceGetError` are:
----------------------- ---------------------------------------------
Error Code Description
----------------------- ---------------------------------------------
RTC_NO_ERROR No error occurred.
RTC_UNKNOWN_ERROR An unknown error has occurred.
RTC_INVALID_ARGUMENT An invalid argument was specified.
RTC_INVALID_OPERATION The operation is not allowed for the
specified object.
RTC_OUT_OF_MEMORY There is not enough memory left to complete
the operation.
RTC_UNSUPPORTED_CPU The CPU is not supported as it does not
support SSE2.
RTC_CANCELLED The operation got cancelled
by an Memory Monitor Callback or
Progress Monitor Callback function.
----------------------- ---------------------------------------------
: Return values of `rtcDeviceGetError`.
When the device construction fails `rtcNewDevice` returns `NULL` as
device. To detect the error code of a such a failed device
construction pass `NULL` as device to the `rtcDeviceGetError`
function. For all other invokations of `rtcDeviceGetError` a proper
device pointer has to get specified.
Using the `rtcDeviceSetErrorFunction` call, it is also possible to set
a callback function that is called whenever an error occurs for a
device. The callback function gets passed the error code, as well as
some string that describes the error further. Passing `NULL` to
`rtcDeviceSetErrorFunction` disables the set callback function again. The
previously described error flags are also set if an error callback
function is present.
Scene
-----
A scene is a container for a set of geometries of potentially different
types. A scene is created using the `rtcDeviceNewScene` function call, and
destroyed using the `rtcDeleteScene` function call. Two types of scenes
are supported, dynamic and static scenes. Different flags specify the
type of scene to create and the type of ray query operations that can
later be performed on the scene. The following example creates a scene
that supports dynamic updates and the single ray `rtcIntersect` and
`rtcOccluded` calls.
RTCScene scene = rtcDeviceNewScene(device, RTC_SCENE_DYNAMIC, RTC_INTERSECT1);
...
rtcDeleteScene(scene);
Using the following scene flags the user can select between creating a
static or dynamic scene.
Scene Flag Description
------------------- ------------------------------------------
RTC_SCENE_STATIC Scene is optimized for static geometry.
RTC_SCENE_DYNAMIC Scene is optimized for dynamic geometry.
------------------- ------------------------------------------
: Dynamic type flags for `rtcDeviceNewScene`.
A dynamic scene is created by invoking `rtcDeviceNewScene` with the
`RTC_SCENE_DYNAMIC` flag. Different geometries can now be created
inside that scene. Geometries are enabled by default. Once the scene
geometry is specified, an `rtcCommit` call will finish the scene
description and trigger building of internal data structures. After
the `rtcCommit` call it is safe to perform ray queries of the type
specified at scene construction time. Geometries can get disabled
(`rtcDisable` call), enabled again (`rtcEnable` call), and deleted
(`rtcDeleteGeometry` call). Geometries can also get modified,
including their vertex and index arrays. After the modification of
some geometry, `rtcUpdate` or `rtcUpdateBuffer` has to get called for
that geometry to specify which buffers got modified. Each modified
buffer can be specified separately using the `rtcUpdateBuffer`
function. In contrast the `rtcUpdate` function simply tags each buffer
of some geometry as modified. If geometries got enabled, disabled,
deleted, or modified an `rtcCommit` call has to get invoked before
performing any ray queries for the scene, otherwise the effect of the
ray query is undefined. During an `rtcCommit` call modifications to
the scene are not allowed.
A static scene is created by the `rtcDeviceNewScene` call with the
`RTC_SCENE_STATIC` flag. Geometries can only get created, enabled,
disabled and modified until the first `rtcCommit` call. After the
`rtcCommit` call, each access to any geometry of that static scene is
invalid. Geometries that got created inside a static scene can only
get deleted by deleting the entire scene.
The modification of geometry, building of hierarchies using
`rtcCommit`, and tracing of rays have always to happen separately,
never at the same time.
Embree silently ignores primitives that would cause numerical issues,
e.g. primitives containing NaNs, INFs, or values greater
than 1.844E18f.
The following flags can be used to tune the used acceleration structure.
These flags are only hints and may be ignored by the implementation.
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
Scene Flag Description
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
RTC_SCENE_COMPACT Creates a compact data structure and avoids
algorithms that consume much memory.
RTC_SCENE_COHERENT Optimize for coherent rays (e.g. primary
rays).
RTC_SCENE_INCOHERENT Optimize for in-coherent rays (e.g. diffuse
reflection rays).
RTC_SCENE_HIGH_QUALITY Build higher quality spatial data structures.
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
: Acceleration structure flags for `rtcDeviceNewScene`.
The following flags can be used to tune the traversal algorithm that is
used by Embree. These flags are only hints and may be ignored by the
implementation.
Scene Flag Description
------------------ ----------------------------------------------------
RTC_SCENE_ROBUST Avoid optimizations that reduce arithmetic accuracy.
------------------ ----------------------------------------------------
: Traversal algorithm flags for `rtcDeviceNewScene`.
The second argument of the `rtcDeviceNewScene` function are algorithm flags,
that allow to specify which ray queries are required by the application.
Calling a ray query API function for a scene that is different to the
ones specified at scene creation time is not allowed. Further, the
application should only pass ray query requirements that are really
needed, to give Embree most freedom in choosing the best algorithm. E.g.
in case Embree implements no packet traversers for some highly optimized
data structure for single rays, then this data structure cannot be used
if the user enables any ray packet query.
--------------------- ----------------------------------------------------
Algorithm Flag Description
--------------------- ----------------------------------------------------
RTC_INTERSECT1 Enables the `rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded`
functions (single ray interface) for this scene.
RTC_INTERSECT4 Enables the `rtcIntersect4` and `rtcOccluded4`
functions (4-wide packet interface) for this scene.
RTC_INTERSECT8 Enables the `rtcIntersect8` and `rtcOccluded8`
functions (8-wide packet interface) for this scene.
RTC_INTERSECT16 Enables the `rtcIntersect16` and `rtcOccluded16`
functions (16-wide packet interface) for this
scene.
RTC_INTERSECT_STREAM Enables the `rtcIntersect1M`, `rtcOccluded1M`,
`rtcIntersect1Mp`, `rtcOccluded1Mp`,
`rtcIntersectNM`, `rtcOccludedNM`,
`rtcIntersectNp`, and `rtcOccludedNp`
functions for this scene.
RTC_INTERPOLATE Enables the `rtcInterpolate` and `rtcInterpolateN`
interpolation functions.
----------------- ----------------------------------------------------
: Enabled algorithm flags for `rtcDeviceNewScene`.
Embree supports two modes for a scene, the `normal mode` and `stream
mode`. These modes mainly differ in the kind of callbacks invoked and
how rays are extended with user data. The normal mode is enabled by
default, the ray stream mode can be enabled using the
`RTC_INTERSECT_STREAM` algorithm flag for a scene. Only in ray stream
mode, the stream API functions `rtcIntersect1M`, `rtcIntersect1Mp`,
`rtcIntersectNM`, and `rtcIntersectNp` as well as their occlusion
variants can be used.
The scene bounding box can get read by the function
`rtcGetBounds(RTCScene scene, RTCBounds& bounds_o)`. This function
will write the AABB of the scene to `bounds_o`. Time varying bounds
can be obtained usin the `rtcGetLinearBounds(RTCScene scene,
RTCBounds* bounds_o)` function. This function will write two AABBs to
`bounds_o`. Linearly interpolating these bounds to a specific time `t`
yields bounds that bound the geometry at that time. Invoking these
functions is only valid when all scene changes got committed using
`rtcCommit`.
Geometries
----------
Geometries are always contained in the scene they are created in. Each
geometry is assigned an integer ID at creation time, which is unique
for that scene. The current version of the API supports triangle
meshes (`rtcNewTriangleMesh`), quad meshes (`rtcNewQuadMesh`),
Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces (`rtcNewSubdivisionMesh`), curve
geometries (`rtcNewCurveGeometry`), hair geometries
(`rtcNewHairGeometry`), single level instances of other scenes
(`rtcNewInstance2`), and user defined geometries
(`rtcNewUserGeometry`). The API is designed in a way that easily
allows adding new geometry types in later releases.
For dynamic scenes, the assigned geometry IDs fulfill the following
properties. As long as no geometry got deleted, all IDs are assigned
sequentially, starting from 0. If geometries got deleted, the
implementation will reuse IDs later on in an implementation dependent
way. Consequently sequential assignment is no longer guaranteed, but a
compact range of IDs. These rules allow the application to manage a
dynamic array to efficiently map from geometry IDs to its own geometry
representation.
For static scenes, geometry IDs are assigned sequentially starting at 0.
This allows the application to use a fixed size array to map from
geometry IDs to its own geometry representation.
Alternatively the application can also use the `void rtcSetUserData
(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID, void* ptr)` function to set a user
data pointer `ptr` to its own geometry representation, and later read
out this pointer again using the `void* rtcGetUserData (RTCScene
scene, unsigned geomID)` function.
The following geometry flags can be specified at construction time of
geometries:
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
Geometry Flag Description
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
RTC_GEOMETRY_STATIC The geometry is considered static and should get
modified rarely by the application. This
flag has to get used in static scenes.
RTC_GEOMETRY_DEFORMABLE The geometry is considered to deform in a
coherent way, e.g. a skinned character. The
connectivity of the geometry has to stay
constant, thus modifying the index array is
not allowed. The implementation is free to
choose a BVH refitting approach for handling
meshes tagged with that flag.
RTC_GEOMETRY_DYNAMIC The geometry is considered highly dynamic and
changes frequently, possibly in an
unstructured way. Embree will rebuild data
structures from scratch for this type of
geometry.
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
: Flags for the creation of new geometries.
### Triangle Meshes
Triangle meshes are created using the `rtcNewTriangleMesh` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call.
The number of triangles, number of vertices, and optionally the number
of time steps for multi-segment motion blur have to get specified at construction
time of the mesh. The user can also specify additional flags that
choose the strategy to handle that mesh in dynamic scenes. The
following example demonstrates how to create a triangle mesh without
motion blur:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewTriangleMesh(scene, geomFlags,
numTriangles, numVertices, 1);
The triangle indices can be set by mapping and writing to the index
buffer (`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`) and the triangle vertices can be set by
mapping and writing into the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`). The
index buffer contains an array of three 32 bit indices, while the
vertex buffer contains an array of three float values aligned to 16
bytes. The 4th component of the aligned vertices can be arbitrary. All
buffers have to get unmapped before an `rtcCommit` call to the scene.
struct Vertex { float x, y, z, a; };
struct Triangle { int v0, v1, v2; };
Vertex* vertices = (Vertex*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
// fill vertices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
Triangle* triangles = (Triangle*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
// fill triangle indices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
Also see tutorial [Triangle Geometry] for an example of how to create
triangle meshes.
The parametrization of a triangle uses the first vertex `p0` as base
point, and the vector `p1 - p0` as u-direction and `p2 - p0` as
v-direction. The following picture additionally illustrates the
direction the geometry normal is pointing into.
![][imgTriangleUV]
Some texture coordinates `t0,t1,t2` can be linearly interpolated over
the triangle the following way:
t_uv = (1-u-v)*t0 + u*t1 + v*t2
### Quad Meshes
Quad meshes are created using the `rtcNewQuadMesh` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call.
The number of quads, number of vertices, and optionally the number of
time steps for multi-segment motion blur have to get specified at
construction time of the mesh. The user can also specify additional
flags that choose the strategy to handle that mesh in dynamic
scenes. The following example demonstrates how to create a quad mesh
without motion blur:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewQuadMesh(scene, geomFlags,
numQuads, numVertices, 1);
The quad indices can be set by mapping and writing to the index
buffer (`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`) and the quad vertices can be set by
mapping and writing into the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`). The
index buffer contains an array of four 32 bit indices, while the
vertex buffer contains an array of three float values aligned to 16
bytes. The 4th component of the aligned vertices can be arbitrary. All
buffers have to get unmapped before an `rtcCommit` call to the scene.
struct Vertex { float x, y, z, a; };
struct Quad { int v0, v1, v2, v3; };
Vertex* vertices = (Vertex*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
// fill vertices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
Quad* quads = (Quad*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
// fill quad indices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
A quad is internally handled as a pair of two triangles `v0,v1,v3` and
`v2,v3,v1`, with the u'/v' coordinates of the second triangle
corrected by `u = 1-u'` and `v = 1-v'` to produce a quad
parametrization where u and v go from 0 to 1.
To encode a triangle as a quad just replicate the last triangle vertex
(`v0,v1,v2` -> `v0,v1,v2,v2`). This way the quad mesh can be used to
represent a mixed mesh which contains triangles and quads.
### Subdivision Surfaces
Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces for meshes consisting of faces of
up to 15 vertices (e.g. triangles, quadrilateral, pentagons, etc.) are
supported, including support for edge creases, vertex creases, holes,
non-manifold geometry, and face-varying interpolation.
A subdivision surface is created using the `rtcNewSubdivisionMesh`
function call, and deleted again using the `rtcDeleteGeometry`
function call.
unsigned rtcNewSubdivisionMesh(RTCScene scene,
RTCGeometryFlags flags,
size_t numFaces,
size_t numEdges,
size_t numVertices,
size_t numEdgeCreases,
size_t numVertexCreases,
size_t numCorners,
size_t numHoles,
size_t numTimeSteps);
The number of faces (`numFaces`), edges/indices (`numEdges`), vertices
(`numVertices`), edge creases (`numEdgeCreases`), vertex creases
(`numVertexCreases`), holes (`numHoles`), and time steps
(`numTimeSteps`) have to get specified at construction time.
The following buffers have to get setup by the application: the face
buffer (`RTC_FACE_BUFFER`) contains the number edges/indices (3 to 15) of
each of the `numFaces` faces, the index buffer (`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`)
contains multiple (3 to 15) 32 bit vertex indices for each face and
`numEdges` indices in total, the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`)
stores `numVertices` vertices as single precision `x`, `y`, `z` floating
point coordinates aligned to 16 bytes. The value of the 4th float used
for alignment can be arbitrary.
Optionally the application may fill additional index buffers if
multiple topologies are required for face-varying interpolation. The
standard vertex buffers `RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER` are always bound to the
geometry topology (topology 0) thus use `RTC_INDEX_BUFFER0`. Data
interpolation may use different topologies as described later.
Optionally, the application can setup the hole buffer (`RTC_HOLE_BUFFER`)
with `numHoles` many 32 bit indices of faces that should be considered
non-existing in all topologies.
Optionally, the application can fill the level buffer
(`RTC_LEVEL_BUFFER`) with a tessellation rate for each or the edges of
each face, making a total of `numEdges` values. The tessellation level
is a positive floating point value, that specifies how many quads
along the edge should get generated during tessellation. The
tessellation level is a lower bound, thus the implementation is free
to choose a larger level. If no level buffer is specified a level of 1
is used. Note that some edge may be shared between (typically 2)
faces. To guarantee a watertight tessellation, the level of these
shared edges has to be exactly identical. A uniform tessellation rate
for an entire subdivision mesh can be set by using the
`rtcSetTessellationRate(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID, float rate)`
function. The existance of a level buffer has preference over the
uniform tessellation rate.
Optionally, the application can fill the sparse edge crease buffers to
make some edges appear sharper. The edge crease index buffer
(`RTC_EDGE_CREASE_INDEX_BUFFER`) contains `numEdgeCreases` many pairs
of 32 bit vertex indices that specify unoriented edges in the
geometry topology. The edge crease weight buffer
(`RTC_EDGE_CREASE_WEIGHT_BUFFER`) stores for each of theses crease
edges a positive floating point weight. The larger this weight, the
sharper the edge. Specifying a weight of infinity is supported and
marks an edge as infinitely sharp. Storing an edge multiple times with
the same crease weight is allowed, but has lower performance. Storing
an edge multiple times with different crease weights results in
undefined behavior. For a stored edge (i,j), the reverse direction
edges (j,i) does not have to get stored, as both are considered the
same edge. Edge crease features are specified for the geomtetry
topology, but copied to all other topologies automatically.
Optionally, the application can fill the sparse vertex crease buffers
to make some vertices appear sharper. The vertex crease index buffer
(`RTC_VERTEX_CREASE_INDEX_BUFFER`), contains `numVertexCreases` many
32 bit vertex indices to specify a set of vertices from the geometry
topology. The vertex crease weight buffer
(`RTC_VERTEX_CREASE_WEIGHT_BUFFER`) specifies for each of these
vertices a positive floating point weight. The larger this weight, the
sharper the vertex. Specifying a weight of infinity is supported and
makes the vertex infinitely sharp. Storing a vertex multiple times
with the same crease weight is allowed, but has lower
performance. Storing a vertex multiple times with different crease
weights results in undefined behavior. Vertex crease features are
specified for the geomtetry topology, but copied to all other
topologies automatically.
Faces with 3 to 15 vertices are supported (triangles, quadrilateral,
pentagons, etc).
The user can also specify a geometry mask and additional flags that
choose the strategy to handle that subdivision mesh in dynamic scenes.
The implementation of subdivision surfaces uses an internal software cache,
which can get configured to some desired size (see [Configuring Embree]).
#### Parametrization
The parametrization of a regular quadrilateral uses the first vertex `p0` as
base point, and the vector `p1 - p0` as u-direction and `p3 - p0` as
v-direction. The following picture additionally illustrates the
direction the geometry normal is pointing into.
![][imgQuadUV]
Some texture coordinates `t0,t1,t2,t3` can be bi-linearly
interpolated over the quadrilateral the following way:
t_uv = (1-v)((1-u)*t0 + u*t1) + v*((1-u)*t3 + u*t2)
The parametrization for all other face types where the number of
vertices is not equal to 4, have a special parametrization where the
n'th quadrilateral (that would be obtained by a single subdivision
step) is encoded in the higher order bits of the UV coordinates and
the local hit location inside this quadrilateral in the lower order
bits. The following piece of code extracts the sub-patch ID i and UVs
of this subpatch:
const unsigned l = floorf(4.0f*U);
const unsigned h = floorf(4.0f*V);
const unsigned i = 4*h+l;
const float u = 2.0f*fracf(4.0f*U);
const float v = 2.0f*fracf(4.0f*V);
To smoothly interpolate texture coordinates over the subdivision
surface we recommend using the `rtcInterpolate2` function, which will
apply the standard subdivision rules for interpolation and
automatically take care of the special UV encoding for
non-quadrilaterals.
#### Face-Varing Data
Face-varying interpolation is supported through multiple topologies
per subdivision mesh and binding such topologies to user vertex buffers
to interpolate. This way texture coordinates may use a different
topology with additional boundaries to construct separate UV regions
inside one subdivision mesh.
Each such topology consists of an index buffer and subdivision
mode. Up to 16 topologies are supported, with corresponding index
buffers `RTC_INDEX_BUFFER0+i`, with i in the range 0 to 15.
Each of the 16 supported user vertex buffers
`RTC_USER_VERTEX_BUFFER0+j` (j in the range 0 to 15) can be assigned
to some topology using the `rtcSetIndexBuffer` call:
void rtcSetIndexBuffer(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID,
RTCBufferType vertexBuffer, RTCBufferType indexBuffer);
The face buffer (`RTC_FACE_BUFFER`) is shared between all topologies,
which means that the n'th primitive always has the same number of
vertices (e.g. being a triangle or a quad) for each topology. However,
the indices of the topologies themselves may be different.
#### Subdivision Mode
The subdivision modes can be used to force linear interpolation for
some parts of the subdivision mesh.
-------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
Boundary Mode Description
-------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
RTC_SUBDIV_NO_BOUNDARY Boundary patches are ignored. This way each
rendered patch has a full set of control
vertices.
RTC_SUBDIV_SMOOTH_BOUNDARY The sequence of boundary control points are
used to generate a smooth B-spline boundary
curve (default mode).
RTC_SUBDIV_PIN_CORNERS Corner vertices are pinned to their
location during subdivision.
RTC_SUBDIV_PIN_BOUNDARY All vertices at the border are pinned to
their location during subdivision. This way
the boundary is interpolated linearly.
RTC_SUBDIV_PIN_ALL All vertices at the border are binned to
their location during subdivision. This way all
patches are linearly interpolated.
------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
: Subdivision modes supported by Embree.
These modes can be set to each topology separately using the
`rtcSetSubdivisionMode` API call with the following signature:
void rtcSetSubdivisionMode(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID,
unsigned topologyID, RTCSubdivisionMode mode);
These modes are typically used to interpolate face-varying data
properly. E.g. the topology used to interpolate texture coordinaces
are typically assigned the `RTC_SUBDIV_PIN_BOUNDARY` mode, to also map
texels at the border of the texture to the mesh.
Also see tutorial [Subdivision Geometry] for an example of how to create
subdivision surfaces.
### Line Segment Hair Geometry
Line segments are supported to render hair geometry. A line segment
consists of a start and end point, and start and end
radius. Individual line segments are considered to be subpixel sized which
allows the implementation to approximate the intersection
calculation. This in particular means that zooming onto one line segment might
show geometric artifacts.
Line segments are created using the `rtcNewLineSegments` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call.
The number of line segments, the number of vertices, and optionally
the number of time steps for multi-segment motion blur have to get
specified at construction time of the line segment geometry.
The segment indices can be set by mapping and writing to the index buffer
(`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`) and the vertices can be set by mapping and
writing into the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`). In case of
motion blur, the vertex buffers (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+t`) have to get
filled for each time step `t`.
The index buffer contains an array of 32 bit indices pointing to the
ID of the first of two vertices, while the vertex buffer
stores all control points in the form of a single precision position
and radius stored in `x`, `y`, `z`, `r` order in memory. The
radii have to be greater or equal zero. All buffers have to get
unmapped before an `rtcCommit` call to the scene.
Like for triangle meshes, the user can also specify a geometry mask and
additional flags that choose the strategy to handle that mesh in dynamic
scenes.
The following example demonstrates how to create some line segment geometry:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewLineSegments(scene, geomFlags, numCurves,
numVertices, 1);
struct Vertex { float x, y, z, r; };
Vertex* vertices = (Vertex*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
// fill vertices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
int* curves = (int*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
// fill indices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
### Bézier Hair Geometry
Hair geometries are supported, which consist of multiple hairs
represented as cubic Bézier curves with varying radius per control
point. Individual hairs are considered to be subpixel sized which allows
the implementation to approximate the intersection calculation. This in
particular means that zooming onto one hair might show geometric
artifacts.
Hair geometries are created using the `rtcNewHairGeometry` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call.
The number of hair curves, the number of vertices, and optionally the
number of time steps for multi-segment motion blur have to get
specified at construction time of the hair geometry.
The curve indices can be set by mapping and writing to the index
buffer (`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`) and the control vertices can be set by
mapping and writing into the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`). In
case of motion blur, the vertex buffers `RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+t` have to
get filled for each time step.
The index buffer contains an array of 32 bit indices pointing to the
ID of the first of four control vertices, while the vertex buffer
stores all control points in the form of a single precision position
and radius stored in `x`, `y`, `z`, `r` order in memory. The hair
radii have to be greater or equal zero. All buffers have to get
unmapped before an `rtcCommit` call to the scene.
The intersection with the hair primitive stores the parametric hit
location along the hair as `u`-coordinate (range 0 to +1), and the
normalized distance as the `v`-coordinate (range -1 to +1). The
geometry normal `Ng` is filled with the the tangent of the bezier
curve at the hit location on the curve (dPdu).
The implementation may choose to subdivide the Bézier curve into
multiple cylinders-like primitives. The number of cylinders the curve
gets subdivided into can be specified per hair geometry through the
`rtcSetTessellationRate(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID, float rate)`
function. By default the tessellation rate for hair curves is 4.
Like for triangle meshes, the user can also specify a geometry mask and
additional flags that choose the strategy to handle that mesh in dynamic
scenes.
The following example demonstrates how to create some hair geometry:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewHairGeometry(scene, geomFlags, numCurves, numVertices);
struct Vertex { float x, y, z, r; };
Vertex* vertices = (Vertex*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
// fill vertices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER);
int* curves = (int*) rtcMapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
// fill indices here
rtcUnmapBuffer(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER);
Also see tutorial [Hair] for an example of how to create and use hair
geometry.
### Bézier Curve Geometry
The Bézier curve geometry consists of multiple cubic Bézier curves
with varying radius per control point. The cuve surface is defined as
the sweep surface of sweeping a varying radius circle tangential along
the Bézier curve. As a limitation, the radius of the curve has to be
smaller than the curvature radius of the Bézier curve at each location
on the curve. In contrast to hair geometry, the curve geometry is
rendered properly even in closeups.
Curve geometries are created using the `rtcNewCurveGeometry` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call.
The number of Bézier curves, the number of vertices, and optionally
the number of time steps for multi-segment motion blur have to get
specified at construction time of the curve geometry.
The curve indices can be set by mapping and writing to the index
buffer (`RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`) and the control vertices can be set by
mapping and writing into the vertex buffer (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER`). In
case of motion blur, the vertex buffers `RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+t` have to
get filled for each time step.
The index buffer contains an array of 32 bit indices pointing to the
ID of the first of four control vertices, while the vertex buffer
stores all control points in the form of a single precision position
and radius stored in `x`, `y`, `z`, `r` order in memory. The curve
radii have to be greater or equal zero. All buffers have to get
unmapped before an `rtcCommit` call to the scene.
Like for triangle meshes, the user can also specify a geometry mask and
additional flags that choose the strategy to handle the curves in dynamic
scenes.
Also see tutorial [Curves] for an example of how to create and use
Bézier curve geometries.
### User Defined Geometry
User defined geometries make it possible to extend Embree with
arbitrary types of user defined primitives. This is achieved by
introducing arrays of user primitives as a special geometry
type.
User geometries are created using the `rtcNewUserGeometry` function
call, and potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function
call. The the `rtcNewUserGeometry2` function additionally gets a
`numTimeSteps` parameter, which specifies the number of timesteps for
multi-segment motion blur.
When creating a user defined geometry, the user has to set a data
pointer, a bounding function closure (function and user pointer) as
well as user defined intersect and occluded callback function
pointers. The bounding function is used to query the bounds of all
timesteps of a user primitive, while the intersect and occluded
callback functions are called to intersect the primitive with a ray.
The bounding function to register has the following signature
typedef void (*RTCBoundsFunc3)(void* userPtr, void* geomUserPtr, size_t id, size_t timeStep, RTCBounds& bounds_o);
and can be registered using the `rtcSetBoundsFunction2` API function:
rtcSetBoundsFunction3(scene, geomID, userBoundsFunction, userPtr);
When the bounding callback is called, it is passed a user defined
pointer specified at registration time of the bounds function
(`userPtr` parameter), the per geometry user data pointer
(`geomUserPtr` parameter), the ID of the primitive to calculate the
bounds for (`id` parameter), the time step at which to calculate the
bounds (`timeStep` parameter) and a memory location to write the
calculated bound to (`bounds_o` parameter).
The signature of supported user defined intersect and occluded
function in normal mode is as follows:
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFunc ) ( void* userDataPtr, RTCRay& ray, size_t item);
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFunc4 ) (const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay4& ray, size_t item);
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFunc8 ) (const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay8& ray, size_t item);
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFunc16) (const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay16& ray, size_t item);
The `RTCIntersectFunc` callback function operates on single rays and
gets passed the user data pointer of the user geometry (`userDataPtr`
parameter), the ray to intersect (`ray` parameter), and the ID of the
primitive to intersect (`item` parameter). The
`RTCIntersectFunc4/8/16` callback functions operate on ray packets of
size 4, 8 and 16 and additionally get an integer valid mask as input
(`valid` parameter). The callback functions should not modify any ray
that is disabled by that valid mask.
In stream mode the following callback function has to get used:
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFuncN ) (const int* valid, void* userDataPtr, const RTCIntersectContext* context, RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t item);
typedef void (*RTCIntersectFunc1Mp)( void* userDataPtr, const RTCIntersectContext* context, RTCRay** rays, size_t M, size_t item);
The `RTCIntersectFuncN` callback function supports ray packets of
arbitrary size `N`. The `RTCIntersectFunc1Mp` callback function get an
array of `M` pointers to single rays as input.
The user intersect function should return without modifying the ray
structure if the user geometry is missed. Whereas, if an intersection
of the user primitive with the ray segment was found, the intersect
function has to update the hit information of the ray (`tfar`, `u`,
`v`, `Ng`, `geomID`, `primID` components).
The user occluded function should also return without modifying the ray
structure if the user geometry is missed. If the geometry is hit, it
should set the `geomID` member of the ray to 0.
When performing ray queries using the `rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded`
function, callbacks of type `RTCIntersectFunc` are invoked for user
geometries. Consequently, an application only operating on single rays
only has to provide the single ray intersect and occluded
callbacks. Similar when calling the `rtcIntersect4/8/16` and
`rtcOccluded4/8/16` functions, the `RTCIntersectFunc4/8/16` callbacks
of matching packet size and type are called.
If ray stream mode is enabled for the scene only the
`RTCIntersectFuncN` and `RTCIntersectFunc1Mp` callback can be used. In
this case specifying an `RTCIntersectFuncN` callback is mandatory and
the `RTCIntersectFunc1Mp` callback is optional. Trying to set a
different type of user callback function results in an error.
The following example illustrates creating an array with two user
geometries:
int numTimeSteps = 2;
struct UserObject { ... };
void userBoundsFunction(void* userPtr, UserObject* userGeomPtr, size_t i, size_t t, RTCBounds& bounds)
{
bounds = ;
}
void userIntersectFunction(UserObject* userGeomPtr, RTCRay& ray, size_t i)
{
if ()
return;
;
}
void userOccludedFunction(UserObject* userGeomPtr, RTCRay& ray, size_t i)
{
if ()
return;
geomID = 0;
}
...
UserObject* userGeomPtr = new UserObject[2];
userGeomPtr[0] = ...
userGeomPtr[1] = ...
unsigned geomID = rtcNewUserGeometry2(scene, 2, numTimeSteps);
rtcSetUserData(scene, geomID, userGeomPtr);
rtcSetBoundsFunction3(scene, geomID, userBoundsFunction, userPtr);
rtcSetIntersectFunction(scene, geomID, userIntersectFunction);
rtcSetOccludedFunction(scene, geomID, userOccludedFunction);
See tutorial [User Geometry] for an example of how to use the user
defined geometries.
### Instances
Embree supports instancing of scenes inside another scene by some
transformation. As the instanced scene is stored only a single time,
even if instanced to multiple locations, this feature can be used to
create very large scenes. Only single level instancing is supported by
Embree natively, however, multi-level instancing can be implemented
through user geometries.
Instances are created using the `rtcNewInstance2
(RTCScene target, RTCScene source, size_t numTimeSteps)` function call, and
potentially deleted using the `rtcDeleteGeometry` function call. To
instantiate a scene, one first has to generate the scene `B` to
instantiate. Now one can add an instance of this scene inside a scene `A`
the following way:
unsigned instID = rtcNewInstance2(sceneA, sceneB, 1);
rtcSetTransform2(sceneA, instID, RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR, &column_matrix_3x4, 0);
To create some motion blurred instance just pass the number of time
steps and specify one matrix for each time step:
unsigned instID = rtcNewInstance2(sceneA, sceneB, 3);
rtcSetTransform2(sceneA, instID, RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR, &column_matrix_t0_3x4, 0);
rtcSetTransform2(sceneA, instID, RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR, &column_matrix_t1_3x4, 1);
rtcSetTransform2(sceneA, instID, RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR, &column_matrix_t2_3x4, 2);
Both scenes have to belong to the same device. One has to call
`rtcCommit` on scene `B` before one calls `rtcCommit` on scene `A`. When
modifying scene `B` one has to call `rtcUpdate` for all instances of
that scene. If a ray hits the instance, then the `geomID` and `primID`
members of the ray are set to the geometry ID and primitive ID of the
primitive hit in scene `B`, and the `instID` member of the ray is set to
the instance ID returned from the `rtcNewInstance2` function.
Some special care has to be taken when using user geometries and
instances in the same scene. Instantiated user geometries should not
set the `instID` field of the ray as this field is managed by the
instancing already. However, non-instantiated user geometries should
clear the `instID` field to `RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID`, to later
distinguish them from instantiated geometries that have the `instID`
field set.
The `rtcSetTransform2` call can be passed an affine transformation matrix
with different data layouts:
----------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Layout Description
----------------------------------- ----------------------------------
RTC_MATRIX_ROW_MAJOR The 3×4 float matrix is laid out
in row major form.
RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR The 3×4 float matrix is laid out
in column major form.
RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR_ALIGNED16 The 3×4 float matrix is laid out
in column major form, with each
column padded by an additional 4th
component.
----------------------------------- ----------------------------------
: Matrix layouts for `rtcSetTransform2`.
Passing homogeneous 4×4 matrices is possible as long as the last row is
(0, 0, 0, 1). If this homogeneous matrix is laid out in row major form,
use the `RTC_MATRIX_ROW_MAJOR` layout. If this homogeneous matrix is
laid out in column major form, use the
`RTC_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR_ALIGNED16` mode. In both cases, Embree will
ignore the last row of the matrix.
The transformation passed to `rtcSetTransform2` transforms from the local
space of the instantiated scene to world space.
See tutorial [Instanced Geometry] for an example of how to use
instances.
Ray Layout
-----------
The ray layout to be passed to the ray tracing core is defined in the
`embree2/rtcore_ray.h` header file. It is up to the user to use the
ray structures defined in that file, or resemble the exact same binary
data layout with their own vector classes. The ray layout might change
with new Embree releases as new features get added, however, will stay
constant as long as the major Embree release number does not
change. The ray contains the following data members:
Member In/Out Description
------- ------- ----------------------------------------------------------
org in ray origin
dir in ray direction (can be unnormalized)
tnear in start of ray segment
tfar in/out end of ray segment, set to hit distance after intersection
time in time used for multi-segment motion blur [0,1]
mask in ray mask to mask out geometries
Ng out unnormalized geometry normal
u out barycentric u-coordinate of hit
v out barycentric v-coordinate of hit
geomID out geometry ID of hit geometry
primID out primitive ID of hit primitive
instID out instance ID of hit instance
------- ------- ----------------------------------------------------------
: Data fields of a ray.
This structure is in struct of array layout (SOA) for API functions
accepting ray packets.
To create a single ray you can use the `RTCRay` ray type defined in
`embree2/rtcore_ray.h`. To generate a ray packet of size 4, 8, or 16
you can use the `RTCRay4`, `RTCRay8`, or `RTCRay16`
types. Alternatively you can also use the `RTCRayNt` template to
generate ray packets of an arbitrary compile time known size.
When the ray packet size is not known at compile time (e.g. when
Embree returns a ray packet in the `RTCFilterFuncN` callback function),
then you can use the helper functions defined in
`embree2/rtcore_ray.h` to access ray packet components:
float& RTCRayN_org_x(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_org_y(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_org_z(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_dir_x(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_dir_y(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_dir_z(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_tnear(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_tnear(RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_time(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCRayN_mask(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_Ng_x(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_Ng_y(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_Ng_z(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_u (RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCRayN_v (RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCRayN_instID(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCRayN_geomID(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCRayN_primID(RTCRayN* ptr, size_t N, size_t i);
These helper functions get a pointer to the ray packet (`rays`
parameter), the packet size `N`, and returns a reference to some
component (e.g. x-component of origin) of the the ith ray of the
packet.
Please note that there is some incompatibility in the layout of a
single ray (`RTCRay` type) and a ray packet of size 1 (`RTCRayNt<1>`
type) as the `org` and `dir` component are aligned to 16 bytes for
single rays (see `embree2/rtcore_ray.h`). This incompatibility will
get resolved in a future release, but has to be maintained for
compatibility currently. Until then, the ray stream API will always
use the single ray layout `RTCRay` for rays packets of size `N=1`, and
the `RTCRayNt` layout for ray packets of size not equal 1. The helper
functions above to access a ray packet of size `N` take care of this
incompatibility.
Some callback functions get passed a hit structure with the following
data members:
Member In/Out Description
------- ------- ----------------------------------------------------------
instID in instance ID of hit instance
geomID in geometry ID of hit geometry
primID in primitive ID of hit primitive
u in barycentric u-coordinate of hit
v in barycentric v-coordinate of hit
t in hit distance
Ng in unnormalized geometry normal
------- ------- ----------------------------------------------------------
: Data fields of a hit.
This structure is in struct of array layout (SOA) for hit packets of
size `N`. The layout of a hit packet of size `N` is defined by the
`RTCHitNt` template in `embree2/rtcore_ray.h`.
When the hit packet size is not known at compile time (e.g. when
Embree returns a hit packet in the `RTCFilterFuncN` callback
function), you can use the helper functions defined in
`embree2/rtcore_ray.h` to access hit packet components:
unsigned& RTCHitN_instID(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCHitN_geomID(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
unsigned& RTCHitN_primID(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_u (RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_v (RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_t (RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_Ng_x(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_Ng_y(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
float& RTCHitN_Ng_z(RTCHitN* hits, size_t N, size_t i);
These helper functions get a pointer to the hit packet (`hits`
parameter), the packet size `N`, and returns a reference to some
component (e.g. u-component) of the the ith hit of the packet.
Ray Queries
-----------
The API supports finding the closest hit of a ray segment with the
scene (`rtcIntersect` functions), and determining if any hit between a
ray segment and the scene exists (`rtcOccluded` functions).
### Normal Mode
In normal mode the following API functions should be used to trace rays:
void rtcIntersect ( RTCScene scene, RTCRay& ray);
void rtcIntersect4 (const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay4& ray);
void rtcIntersect8 (const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay8& ray);
void rtcIntersect16(const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay16& ray);
void rtcOccluded ( RTCScene scene, RTCRay& ray);
void rtcOccluded4 (const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay4& ray);
void rtcOccluded8 (const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay8& ray);
void rtcOccluded16 (const void* valid, RTCScene scene, RTCRay16& ray);
The `rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded` function operate on single
rays. The `rtcIntersect4` and `rtcOccluded4` functions operate on ray
packets of size 4. The `rtcIntersect8` and `rtcOccluded8` functions
operate on ray packets of size 8, and the `rtcIntersect16` and
`rtcOccluded16` functions operate on ray packets of size 16.
For the ray packet mode with packet size of 4, 8, or 16, the user has
to provide a pointer to 4, 8, or 16 of 32 bit integers that act as a
ray activity mask (`valid` argument). If one of these integers is set
to `0x00000000` the corresponding ray is considered inactive and if
the integer is set to `0xFFFFFFFF`, the ray is considered active. Rays
that are inactive will not update any hit information.
Finding the closest hit distance is done through the `rtcIntersect`
type functions. These get the activity mask (`valid` parameter), the
scene (`scene` parameter), and a ray as input (`ray` parameter). The
layout of the ray structure is described in Section [Ray Layout]. The
user has to initialize the ray origin (`org`), ray direction (`dir`),
and ray segment (`tnear`, `tfar`). The ray segment has to be in the
range $[0, ∞]$, thus ranges that start behind the ray origin are not
valid, but ranges can reach to infinity. The geometry ID (`geomID`
member) has to get initialized to `RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID` (-1). If
the scene contains instances, also the instance ID (`instID`) has to
get initialized to `RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID` (-1). If the scene
contains motion blur geometries, also the ray time (`time`) has to get
initialized to a value in the range $[0, 1]$. If ray masks are
enabled at compile time, also the ray mask (`mask`) has to get
initialized. After tracing the ray, the hit distance (`tfar`),
geometry normal (`Ng`), local hit coordinates (`u`, `v`), geometry ID
(`geomID`), and primitive ID (`primID`) are set. If the scene contains
instances, also the instance ID (`instID`) is set, if an instance is
hit. The geometry ID corresponds to the ID returned at creation time
of the hit geometry, and the primitive ID corresponds to the $n$th
primitive of that geometry, e.g. $n$th triangle. The instance ID
corresponds to the ID returned at creation time of the instance.
Testing if any geometry intersects with the ray segment is done through
the `rtcOccluded` functions. Initialization has to be done as for
`rtcIntersect`. If some geometry got found along the ray segment, the
geometry ID (`geomID`) will get set to 0. Other hit information of the
ray is undefined after calling `rtcOccluded`.
In normal mode, data alignment requirements for ray query functions
operating on single rays is 16 bytes for the ray. Data alignment
requirements for query functions operating on AOS packets of 4, 8, or
16 rays, is 16, 32, and 64 bytes respectively, for the valid mask and
the ray. To operate on packets of 4 rays, the CPU has to support SSE,
to operate on packets of 8 rays, the CPU has to support AVX-256, and
to operate on packets of 16 rays, the CPU has to support AVX512
instructions. Additionally, the required ISA has to be enabled in
Embree at compile time to use the desired packet size.
The following code shows an example of setting up a single ray and
traces it through the scene:
RTCRay ray;
ray.org = ray_origin;
ray.dir = ray_direction;
ray.tnear = 0.0f;
ray.tfar = inf;
ray.instID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
ray.geomID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
ray.primID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
ray.mask = 0xFFFFFFFF;
ray.time = 0.0f;
rtcIntersect(scene, ray);
See tutorial [Triangle Geometry] for a complete example of how to
trace rays.
### Ray Stream Mode
For the stream mode new functions got introduced that operate on
streams of rays:
void rtcIntersect1M (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRay* rays, size_t M, size_t stride);
void rtcIntersect1Mp (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRay**rays, size_t M);
void rtcIntersectNM (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t M, size_t stride);
void rtcIntersectNp (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRayNp& rays, size_t N);
void rtcOccluded1M (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRay* rays, size_t M, size_t stride);
void rtcOccluded1Mp (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRay** rays, size_t M);
void rtcOccludedNM (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRayN* rays, size_t N, size_t M, size_t stride);
void rtcOccludedNp (RTCScene scene, const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRayNp& rays, size_t N, size_t flags);
The `rtcIntersectNM` and `rtcOccludedNM` ray stream functions operate
on an array of `M` ray packets of packet size `N`. The offset in bytes
between consecutive ray packets can be specified by the `stride`
parameter. Data alignment requirements for ray streams is 16
bytes. The packet size `N` has to be larger than 0 and the stream size
`M` can be an arbitrary positive integer including 0. Tracing for
example a ray stream consisting of four 8-wide SOA ray packets just
requires to set the parameters `N` to 8, `M` to 4 and the `stride` to
`sizeof(RTCRay8)`. A ray in a ray stream is considered inactive during
traversal/intersection if its `tnear` value is larger than its `tfar`
value.
The ray streams functions `rtcIntersect1M` and `rtcOccluded1M` are
just a shortcut for single ray streams with a packet size of
`N=1`. `rtcIntersect1Mp` and `rtcOccluded1Mp` are similar to
`rtcIntersect1M` and `rtcOccluded1M` while taking a stream of pointers
to single rays as input. The `rtcIntersectNp` and `rtcOccludedNp`
functions do not require the individual components of the SOA ray
packets to be stored sequentially in memory, but at different adresses
as specified in the `RTCRayNp` structure.
The intersection context passed to the stream version of the ray query
functions, can specify some intersection flags to optimize traversal
and a `userRayExt` pointer that can be used to extent the ray with
additional data as described in Section
[Extending the Ray Structure]. The intersection context is propagated
to each stream user callback function invoked.
struct RTCIntersectContext
{
RTCIntersectFlags flags; //!< intersection flags
void* userRayExt; //!< can be used to pass extended ray data to callbacks
};
As intersection flag the user can currently specify if Embree should
optimize traversal for coherent or incoherent ray distributions.
enum RTCIntersectFlags
{
RTC_INTERSECT_COHERENT = 0, //!< optimize for coherent rays
RTC_INTERSECT_INCOHERENT = 1 //!< optimize for incoherent rays
};
The following code shows an example of setting up a stream of single
rays and tracing it through the scene:
RTCRay rays[128];
/* first setup all rays */
for (size_t i=0; i<128; i++)
{
rays[i].org = calculate_ray_org(i);
rays[i].dir = calculate_ray_dir(i);
rays[i].tnear = 0.0f;
rays[i].tfar = inf;
rays[i].instID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
rays[i].geomID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
rays[i].primID = RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID;
rays[i].mask = 0xFFFFFFFF;
rays[i].time = 0.0f;
}
/* now create a context and trace the ray stream */
RTCIntersectContext context;
context.flags = RTC_INTERSECT_INCOHERENT;
context.userRayExt = nullptr;
rtcIntersectNM(scene, &context, &rays, 1, 128, sizeof(RTCRay));
See tutorial [Stream Viewer] for a complete example of how to
trace ray streams.
Interpolation of Vertex Data
----------------------------
Smooth interpolation of per-vertex data is supported for triangle
meshes, quad meshs, hair geometry, line segment geometry, and
subdivision geometry using the `rtcInterpolate2` API call. This
interpolation function does ignore displacements and always
interpolates the underlying base surface.
void rtcInterpolate2(RTCScene scene,
unsigned geomID, unsigned primID,
float u, float v,
RTCBufferType buffer,
float* P,
float* dPdu, float* dPdv,
float* ddPdudu, float* ddPdvdv, float* ddPdudv,
size_t numFloats);
This call smoothly interpolates the per-vertex data stored in the
specified geometry buffer (`buffer` parameter) to the u/v location
(`u` and `v` parameters) of the primitive (`primID` parameter) of the
geometry (`geomID` parameter) of the specified scene (`scene`
parameter). The interpolation buffer (`buffer` parameter) has to
contain (at least) `numFloats` floating point values per vertex to
interpolate. As interpolation buffer one can specify the
`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0` and `RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER1` as well as one of two
special user vertex buffers `RTC_USER_VERTEX_BUFFER0` and
`RTC_USER_VERTEX_BUFFER1`. These user vertex buffers can only get set
using the `rtcSetBuffer2` call, they cannot get managed internally by
Embree as they have no default layout. The last element of the buffer
has to be padded to 16 bytes, such that it can be read safely using
SSE instructions.
The `rtcInterpolate` call stores `numFloats` interpolated floating
point values to the memory location pointed to by `P`. One can avoid
storing the interpolated value by setting `P` to NULL.
The first order derivative of the interpolation by u and v are stored
at the `dPdu` and `dPdv` memory locations. One can avoid storing first
order derivatives by setting both `dPdu` and `dPdv` to NULL.
The second order derivatives are stored at the `ddPdudu`, `ddPdvdv`,
and `ddPdudv` memory locations. One can avoid storing second order
derivatives by setting these three pointers to NULL.
The `RTC_INTERPOLATE` algorithm flag of a scene has to be enabled to
perform interpolations.
It is explicitly allowed to call this function on disabled
geometries. This makes it possible to use a separate subdivision mesh
with different vertex creases, edge creases, and boundary handling for
interpolation of texture coordinates if that is necessary.
The applied interpolation will do linear interpolation for triangle
and quad meshes, linear interpolation for line segments, cubic Bézier
interpolation for hair, and apply the full subdivision rules for
subdivision geometry.
There is also a second interpolate call `rtcInterpolateN2` that can be
used for ray packets.
void rtcInterpolateN2(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID,
const void* valid, const unsigned* primIDs,
const float* u, const float* v, size_t numUVs,
RTCBufferType buffer,
float* dP,
float* dPdu, float* dPdv,
float* ddPdudu, float* ddPdvdv, float* ddPdudv,
size_t numFloats);
This call is similar to the first version, but gets passed `numUVs`
many u/v coordinates and a valid mask (`valid` parameter) that
specifies which of these coordinates are valid. The valid mask points
to `numUVs` integers and a value of -1 denotes valid and 0 invalid. If
the valid pointer is NULL all elements are considers valid. The
destination arrays are filled in structure of array (SoA) layout.
See tutorial [Interpolation] for an example of using the
`rtcInterpolate2` function.
Buffer Sharing
--------------
Embree supports sharing of buffers with the application. Each buffer
that can be mapped for a specific geometry can also be shared with the
application, by passing a pointer, offset, stride, and number of
elements of the application side buffer using the `rtcSetBuffer2` API
function.
void rtcSetBuffer2(RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID, RTCBufferType type,
void* ptr, size_t offset, size_t stride, size_t size);
The `rtcSetBuffer2` function has to get called before any call to
`rtcMapBuffer` for that buffer, otherwise the buffer will get allocated
internally and the call to `rtcSetBuffer2` will fail. The buffer has to
remain valid as long as the geometry exists, and the user is responsible
to free the buffer when the geometry gets deleted. When a buffer is
shared, it is safe to modify that buffer without mapping and unmapping
it. However, for dynamic scenes one still has to call `rtcUpdate` for
modified geometries and the buffer data has to stay constant from the
`rtcCommit` call to after the last ray query invocation.
The `offset` parameter specifies a byte offset to the start of the
first element, the `stride` parameter specifies a byte stride between
the different elements of the shared buffer and the `size` parameter
specified the number of elements stored inside the buffer. This
support for offset and stride allows the application quite some
freedom in the data layout of these buffers, however, some
restrictions apply. Index buffers always store 32 bit indices and
vertex buffers always store single precision floating point data. The
start address `ptr+offset` and `stride` always have to be aligned to 4
bytes, otherwise the `rtcSetBuffer2` function will fail. The `size`
parameter can be used to change the size of a buffer, which makes it
possible to change the number of elements inside a mesh (by changing
the size of the `RTC_INDEX_BUFFER`).
For vertex buffers (`RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER` and `RTC_USER_VERTEX_BUFFER`),
the last element must be readable using SSE instructions, thus padding
the last element to 16 bytes size is required for some layouts.
The following is an example of how to create a mesh with shared index
and vertex buffers:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewTriangleMesh(scene, geomFlags, numTriangles, numVertices);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER, vertexPtr, 0, 3*sizeof(float), numVertices);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER, indexPtr, 0, 3*sizeof(int), numTriangles);
Sharing buffers can significantly reduce the memory required by the
application, thus we recommend using this feature. When enabling the
`RTC_COMPACT` scene flag, the spatial index structures of Embree might
also share the vertex buffer, resulting in even higher memory savings.
Multi-Segment Motion Blur
-------------------------
All geometry types support multi-segment motion blur with equidistant
time steps and arbitrary number of time steps in the range of 2
to 129. Each geometry can have a different number of time steps. Some
motion blur geometry is constructed by passing the number of time
steps to the geometry construction function and setting the
vertex arrays `RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+t` for each time step `t`:
unsigned geomID = rtcNewTriangleMesh(scene, geomFlags, numTris, numVertices, 3);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+0, vertex0Ptr, 0, sizeof(Vertex), numVertices);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+1, vertex1Ptr, 0, sizeof(Vertex), numVertices);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_VERTEX_BUFFER0+2, vertex2Ptr, 0, sizeof(Vertex), numVertices);
rtcSetBuffer2(scene, geomID, RTC_INDEX_BUFFER, indexPtr, 0, sizeof(Triangle), numTris);
If a scene contains geometries with motion blur, the user has to set
the `time` member of the ray to a value in the range $[0, 1]$. The
motion blur geometry is defined by linearly interpolating the
geometries of neighboring time steps. Each ray can specify a different
time, even inside a ray packet.
User Data Pointer
-----------------
A user data pointer can be specified and queried per geometry, to
efficiently map from the geometry ID returned by ray queries to the
application representation for that geometry.
void rtcSetUserData (RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID, void* ptr);
void* rtcGetUserData (RTCScene scene, unsigned geomID);
The user data pointer of some user defined geometry get additionally
passed to the intersect and occluded callback functions of that user
geometry. Further, the user data pointer is also passed to
intersection filter callback functions attached to some geometry.
The `rtcGetUserData` function is on purpose not thread safe with
respect to other API calls that modify the scene. Consequently, this
function can be used to efficiently query the user data pointer during
rendering (also by multiple threads), but should not get called
while modifying the scene with other threads.
Geometry Mask
-------------
A 32 bit geometry mask can be assigned to triangle meshes and hair
geometries using the `rtcSetMask` call.
rtcSetMask(scene, geomID, mask);
Only if the bitwise `and` operation of this mask with the mask stored
inside the ray is not 0, primitives of this geometry are hit by a ray.
This feature can be used to disable selected triangle mesh or hair
geometries for specifically tagged rays, e.g. to disable shadow casting
for some geometry. This API feature is disabled in Embree by default at
compile time, and can be enabled in CMake through the
`EMBREE_RAY_MASK` parameter.
Filter Functions
----------------
The API supports per geometry filter callback functions that are invoked
for each intersection found during the `rtcIntersect` or `rtcOccluded`
calls. The former ones are called intersection filter functions, the
latter ones occlusion filter functions. The filter functions can be used
to implement various useful features, such as accumulating opacity for
transparent shadows, counting the number of surfaces along a ray,
collecting all hits along a ray, etc. Filter functions can also be used
to selectively reject hits to enable backface culling for some
geometries. If the backfaces should be culled in general for all
geometries then it is faster to enable `EMBREE_BACKFACE_CULLING` during
compilation of Embree instead of using filter functions.
### Normal Mode
In normal mode the filter functions provided by the user need to have
the following signature:
void RTCFilterFunc ( void* userDataPtr, RTCRay& ray);
void RTCFilterFunc4 (const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay4& ray);
void RTCFilterFunc8 (const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay8& ray);
void RTCFilterFunc16(const void* valid, void* userDataPtr, RTCRay16& ray);
The `valid` pointer points to an integer valid mask (0 means invalid
and -1 means valid). The `userDataPtr` is a user pointer optionally
set per geometry through the `rtcSetUserData` function. All hit
information inside the ray is valid. If the hit geometry is instanced,
the `instID` member of the ray is valid and the ray origin, direction,
and geometry normal visible through the ray are in object space.
The filter function can reject a hit by setting the `geomID` member of
the ray to `RTC_INVALID_GEOMETRY_ID`, otherwise the hit is
accepted. The filter function is not allowed to modify the ray input
data (`org`, `dir`, `time`, `mask`, and `tnear` members), but can
modify the hit data of the ray (`u`, `v`, `Ng`, `tfar`, `geomID`,
`primID`, and `instID` members). Updating the `tfar` distance to a
smaller value is possible without limitation. However, increasing the
`tfar` distance of the ray to a larger value `tfar'` , does not
guarantee intersections between `tfar` and `tfar'` to be reported
later, as the corresponding subtrees might have gotten culled already.
The intersection and occlusion filter functions for different ray
types are set for some geometry of a scene using the following API
functions:
void rtcSetIntersectionFilterFunction (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc filter);
void rtcSetIntersectionFilterFunction4 (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc4 filter);
void rtcSetIntersectionFilterFunction8 (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc8 filter);
void rtcSetIntersectionFilterFunction16(RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc16 filter);
void rtcSetOcclusionFilterFunction (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc filter);
void rtcSetOcclusionFilterFunction4 (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc4 filter);
void rtcSetOcclusionFilterFunction8 (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc8 filter);
void rtcSetOcclusionFilterFunction16(RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFunc16 filter);
The intersection and occlusion filter functions of type `RTCFilterFunc`
are only called by the `rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded`
functions. Similar the filter functions of type `FilterFunc4`,
`FilterFunc8`, and `FilterFunc16` are called by `rtcIntersect4/8/16`
and `rtcOccluded4/8/16` of matching width.
### Stream Mode
For ray stream mode a new type of filter function `RTCFilterFuncN` got
introduced:
void RTCFilterFuncN (int* valid,
void* userDataPtr,
const RTCIntersectContext* context,
RTCRayN* ray,
const RTCHitN* potentialHit,
const size_t N);
The stream intersection and occlusion filter functions of this new
type are set for some geometry of a scene using the following API
functions:
void rtcSetIntersectionFilterFunctionN (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFuncN filter);
void rtcSetOcclusionFilterFunctionN (RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCFilterFuncN filter);
For the callback `RTCFilterFuncN`, the `valid` parameter points to an
integer valid mask (0 means invalid and -1 means valid). The
`userDataPtr` is a user pointer optionally set per geometry through
the `rtcSetUserData` function. The `context` parameter points to the
intersection context passed to the ray query function. The `ray`
parameter contains the current ray. All hit data inside the `ray` are
undefined, except the `tfar` value. The `potentialHit` parameter
points to the new hit to test and update. The `N` parameter is the
number of rays and hits found in the `ray` and `potentialHit`. If the
hit geometry is instanced, the `instID` member of the ray is valid and
the ray as well as the potential hit are in object space.
As the ray packet size `N` can be arbitrary, the ray and hit should
get accessed through the helper functions as describe in Section
[Ray Layout].
The callback function has the task to check for each valid ray whether
it wants to accept or reject the corresponding hit. To reject a hit,
the filter callback function just has to write `0` to the integer
valid mask of the corresponding ray. The filter function is not
allowed to modify the ray input data (`org`, `dir`, `time`, `mask`,
and `tnear` members), nor the potential hit, nor inactive components.
An intersection filter callback function can accept a hit by updating
all hit data members of the ray (`u`, `v`, `Ng`, `tfar`, `geomID`,
`primID`, and `instID` members) and keep the valid mask set to `-1`.
An occlusion filter callback function can accept a hit by setting the
`geomID` member of the ray to `0` and keep the valid mask set to `-1`.
The intersection filter callback of most applications will just copy
the `potentialHit` into the appropiate fields of the ray, but this is
not a requirement and the hit data of the ray can get modified
arbitrarily. Updating the `tfar` distance to a smaller value (e.g. the
`t` distance of the potential hit) is possible without
limitation. However, increasing the `tfar` distance of the ray to a
larger value `tfar'` , does not guarantee intersections between `tfar`
and `tfar'` to be reported later, as the corresponding subtrees might
have gotten culled already.
Displacement Mapping Functions
------------------------------
The API supports displacement mapping for subdivision meshes. A
displacement function can be set for some subdivision mesh using the
`rtcSetDisplacementFunction` API call.
void rtcSetDisplacementFunction2(RTCScene, unsigned geomID, RTCDisplacementFunc, RTCBounds*);
A displacement function of `NULL` will delete an already set
displacement function. The bounds parameter is optional. If `NULL` is
passed as bounds, then the displacement shader will get evaluated
during the build process to properly bound displaced geometry. If a
pointer to some bounds of the displacement are passed, then the
implementation can choose to use these bounds to bound displaced
geometry. When bounds are specified, then these bounds have to be
conservative and should be tight for best performance.
The displacement function has to have the following type:
typedef void (*RTCDisplacementFunc2)(void* ptr,
unsigned geomID, unsigned primID, unsigned timeStep,
const float* u, const float* v,
const float* nx, const float* ny, const float* nz,
float* px, float* py, float* pz,
size_t N);
The displacement function is called with the user data pointer of the
geometry (`ptr`), the geometry ID (`geomID`), and primitive ID
(`primID`) of a patch to displace. For motion blur the time step
`timeStep` is also specified, such that the function can be time
varying. For the patch, a number N of points to displace are
specified in a struct of array layout. For each point to displace the
local patch UV coordinates (`u` and `v` arrays), the normalized
geometry normal (`nx`, `ny`, and `nz` arrays), as well as world space
position (`px`, `py`, and `pz` arrays) are provided. The task of the
displacement function is to use this information and move the world
space position inside the allowed specified bounds around the point.
All passed arrays are guaranteed to be 64 bytes aligned, and properly
padded to make wide vector processing inside the displacement function
possible.
The displacement mapping functions might get called during the
`rtcCommit` call, or lazily during the `rtcIntersect` or
`rtcOccluded` calls.
Also see tutorial [Displacement Geometry] for an example of how to use
the displacement mapping functions.
Extending the Ray Structure
---------------------------
### Normal Mode
If Embree is used in normal mode, the ray passed to the filter
callback functions and user geometry callback functions is guaranteed
to be the same ray pointer initially provided to the ray query
function by the user. For that reason, it is safe to extend the ray by
additional data and access this data inside the filter callback
functions (e.g. to accumulate opacity) and user geometry callback
functions.
### Stream Mode
If Embree is used in stream mode, the ray passed to the filter
callback and user geometry callback functions is `not` guaranteed to
be the same ray pointer initially passed to the ray query function, as
the stream implementation may decide to copy rays around, reorder
them, and change the data layout internally when appropiate (e.g. SOA
to AOS conversion).
To identify specific rays in the callback functions, the user has to
pass an ID with each ray and set the `userRayExt` member of the
intersection context to point to its ray extensions. The ray
extensions can be stored in a seprarate memory location but also just
after the end of each ordinary ray (or ray packet). In the latter
case, you can just point the `userRayExt` to the input rays.
To encode a ray ID the ray mask field can be used entirely when the
ray mask feature is disabled, or unused bits of the ray mask can be
used in case the ray mask feature is enabled (e.g. by using the lower
16 bits as ray ID, and the upper 16 bits as ray mask, and setting the
lower 16 bits of each geometry mask always to 0).
The intersection context provided to the stream ray query functions is
passed to each stream callback function (e.g. `RTCIntersectFuncN`,
`RTCIntersectFunc1Mp`, or `RTCFilterFuncN`). Thus, in the callback
function, the ray ID can get decoded, and the extended ray data
accessed through the `userRayExt` pointer stored inside the
intersection context. For SPMD type programs this access requires
`gather` and `scatter` operations to access the user ray extensions.
Not that using the ray ID to access the ray extensions is necessary,
as the ray IDs might have changed from the IDs passed to the ray query
function. E.g. if you trace a ray packet with 8 rays 0 to 8, then even
if a callback gets called with a ray packet of 8 rays, they rays might
have gotten reordered. Further, the callback might get called with a
subpacket of a size smaller than 8 (e.g. `N=5`). However, optimizing
for the common case in which Embree keeps such a packet intact (thus
having a special codepath for `N=8` and unchanged IDs) can give higher
performance.
Sharing Threads with Embree
---------------------------
On some implementations, Embree supports using the application threads
when building internal data structures, by using the
void rtcCommitThread(RTCScene, unsigned threadIndex, unsigned threadCount);
API call to commit the scene. This function has to get called by all
threads that want to cooperate in the scene commit. Each call is
provided the scene to commit, the index of the calling thread in the
range [0, `threadCount`-1], and the number of threads that will call
into this commit operation for the scene. All threads will return
again from this function after the scene commit is finished.
Multiple such scene commit operations can also be running at the same
time, e.g. it is possible to commit many small scenes in parallel
using one thread per commit operation. Subsequent commit operations
for the same scene can use different number of threads in the
`rtcCommitThread` or use the Embree internal threads using the
`rtcCommit` call.
*Note:* When using Embree with the Intel® Threading Building Blocks
(which is the default) you should not use the `rtcCommitThread`
function. Sharing of your threads with TBB is not possible and TBB
will always generate its own set of threads. We recommend to also use
TBB inside your application to share threads with the Embree
library. When using TBB inside your application do never use the
`rtcCommitThread` function.
*Note:* When enabling the Embree internal tasking system the
`rtcCommitThread` feature will work as expected and use the
application threads for hierarchy building.
Join Build Operation
--------------------
If `rtcCommit` is called multiple times from different threads on
the same scene, then all these threads will join the same scene build
operation.
This feature allows a flexible way to lazily create hierarchies during
rendering. A thread reaching a not yet constructed sub-scene of a
two-level scene, can generate the sub-scene geometry and call
`rtcCommit` on that just generated scene. During construction, further
threads reaching the not-yet-built scene, can join the build operation
by also invoking `rtcCommit`. A thread that calls `rtcCommit` after
the build finishes, will directly return from the `rtcCommit`
call (even for static scenes).
*Note:* When using Embree with the Intel® Threading Building Blocks,
the join mode only works properly starting with TBB v4.4 Update 1. For
earlier TBB versions threads that call `rtcCommit` to join a running
build will just wait for the build to finish.
Memory Monitor Callback
---------------------------
Using the memory monitor callback mechanism, the application can track
the memory consumption of an Embree device, and optionally terminate
API calls that consume too much memory.
The user provided memory monitor callback function has to have the
following signature:
bool (*RTCMemoryMonitorFunc)(const ssize_t bytes, const bool post);
A single such callback function per device can be registered by calling
rtcDeviceSetMemoryMonitorFunction(RTCDevice device, RTCMemoryMonitorFunc func);
and deregistered again by calling it with `NULL`. Once registered the
Embree device will invoke the callback function before or after it
allocates or frees important memory blocks. The callback function
might get called from multiple threads concurrently.
The application can track the current memory usage of the Embree
device by atomically accumulating the provided `bytes` input
parameter. This parameter will be >0 for allocations and <0 for
deallocations. The `post` input parameter is true if the callback
function was invoked after the allocation or deallocation, otherwise
it is false.
Embree will continue its operation normally when returning true from
the callback function. If false is returned, Embree will cancel the
current operation with the RTC_OUT_OF_MEMORY error code. Cancelling
will only happen when the callback was called for allocations (bytes >
0), otherwise the cancel request will be ignored. If a callback that
was invoked before the allocation happens (`post == false`) cancels
the operation, then the `bytes` parameter should not get accumulated,
as the allocation will never happen. If a callback that was called
after the allocation happened (`post == true`) cancels the operation,
then the `bytes` parameter should get accumulated, as the allocation
properly happened. Issuing multiple cancel requests for the same
operation is allowed.
Progress Monitor Callback
---------------------------
The progress monitor callback mechanism can be used to report progress
of hierarchy build operations and to cancel long lasting build
operations.
The user provided progress monitor callback function has to have the
following signature:
bool (*RTCProgressMonitorFunc)(void* userPtr, const double n);
A single such callback function can be registered per scene by
calling
rtcSetProgressMonitorFunction(RTCScene, RTCProgressMonitorFunc, void* userPtr);
and deregistered again by calling it with `NULL` for the callback
function. Once registered Embree will invoke the callback function
multiple times during hierarchy build operations of the scene, by
providing the `userPtr` pointer that was set at registration time, and a
double `n` in the range $[0, 1]$ estimating the completion amount of the
operation. The callback function might get called from multiple threads
concurrently.
When returning `true` from the callback function, Embree will continue
the build operation normally. When returning `false` Embree will
cancel the build operation with the RTC_CANCELLED error code. Issuing
multiple cancel requests for the same build operation is allowed.
Configuring Embree
------------------
Some internal device parameters can be set and queried using the
`rtcDeviceSetParameter1i` and `rtcDeviceGetParameter1i` API call. The
parameters from the following table are available to set/query:
-------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------
Parameter Description Read/Write
-------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------
RTC_CONFIG_VERSION_MAJOR returns Embree major version Read only
RTC_CONFIG_VERSION_MINOR returns Embree minor version Read only
RTC_CONFIG_VERSION_PATCH returns Embree patch version Read only
RTC_CONFIG_VERSION returns Embree version as integer Read only
e.g. Embree v2.8.2 → 20802
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECT1 checks if `rtcIntersect1` is Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECT4 checks if `rtcIntersect4` is Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECT8 checks if `rtcIntersect8` is Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECT16 checks if `rtcIntersect16` is Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECT_STREAM checks if `rtcIntersect1M`,
`rtcIntersect1Mp`, `rtcIntersectNM`, Read only
and `rtcIntersectNp` are supported
RTC_CONFIG_TRIANGLE_GEOMETRY checks if triangle geometries are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_QUAD_GEOMETRY checks if quad geometries are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_LINE_GEOMETRY checks if line geometries are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_HAIR_GEOMETRY checks if hair geometries are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_SUBDIV_GEOMETRY checks if subdivision meshes are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_USER_GEOMETRY checks if user geometries are Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_RAY_MASK checks if ray masks are supported Read only
RTC_CONFIG_BACKFACE_CULLING checks if backface culling is Read only
supported
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECTION_FILTER checks if intersection filters are Read only
enabled
RTC_CONFIG_INTERSECTION_FILTER_RESTORE checks if intersection filters Read only
restore previous hit
RTC_CONFIG_IGNORE_INVALID_RAYS checks if invalid rays are ignored Read only
RTC_CONFIG_TASKING_SYSTEM return used tasking system Read only
(0 = INTERNAL, 1 = TBB)
RTC_SOFTWARE_CACHE_SIZE Configures the software cache size Write only
(used to cache subdivision surfaces
for instance). The size is specified
as an integer number of bytes. The
software cache cannot be configured
during rendering.
RTC_CONFIG_COMMIT_JOIN Checks if rtcCommit can be used to Read only
join build operation (not supported
when Embree is compiled with some
older TBB versions)
RTC_CONFIG_COMMIT_THREAD Checks if rtcCommitThread is Read only
available (not supported when
Embree is compiled with some older
TBB versions)
-------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------
: Parameters for `rtcDeviceSetParameter` and `rtcDeviceGetParameter`.
For example, to configure the size of the internal software
cache that is used to handle subdivision surfaces use the
`RTC_SOFTWARE_CACHE_SIZE` parameter to set desired size of the cache
in bytes:
rtcDeviceSetParameter1i(device, RTC_SOFTWARE_CACHE_SIZE, bytes);
The software cache cannot get configured while any Embree API call is
executed. Best configure the size of the cache only once at
application start.
Limiting number of Build Threads
--------------------------------
You can use the TBB API to limit the number of threads used by Embree
during hierarchy construction. Therefore just create a global
taskscheduler_init object, initialized with the number of threads to
use:
#include
tbb::task_scheduler_init init(numThreads);
Thread Creation and Affinity Settings
--------------------------------------
Tasking systems like TBB create worker threads on demand which will
add a runtime overhead for the very first `rtcCommit` call. In case
you want to benchmark the scene build time, you should start threads
at application startup. You can let Embree start TBB threads by
passing `start_threads=1` to the init parameter of `rtcNewDevice`.
On machines with a high thread count (e.g. dual-socket Xeon or Xeon
Phi machines), affinitizing TBB worker threads increases build and
rendering performance. You can let Embree affinitize TBB worker
threads by passing `set_affinity=1` to the init parameter of
`rtcNewDevice`.
All Embree tutorials automatically start and affinitize TBB worker threads
by passing `start_threads=1,set_affinity=1` to `rtcNewDevice`.
Huge Page Support
--------------------------------
We recommend using 2MB huge pages with Embree as this improves ray
tracing performance by about 10%. Huge pages are currently only
working under Linux with Embree.
To enable transparent huge page support under Linux execute the
following as root:
echo always > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
When transparent huge pages are enabled, the kernel tries to merge 4k
pages to 2MB pages when possible as a background job. See the
following webpage for more information on transparent huge pages under Linux
[https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt](https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt).
Using that first approach the transitioning from 4k to 2MB pages might
take some time. For that reason Embree also supports allocating 2MB
pages directly when a huge page pool is configured. To configure 2GB
of adress space for huge page allocation, execute the following as root:
echo 1000 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages
See the following webpage for more information on huge pages under
Linux [https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt](https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt).
Embree Tutorials
================
Embree comes with a set of tutorials aimed at helping users understand
how Embree can be used and extended. All tutorials exist in an ISPC and
C++ version to demonstrate the two versions of the API. Look for files
named `tutorialname_device.ispc` for the ISPC implementation of the
tutorial, and files named `tutorialname_device.cpp` for the single ray C++
version of the tutorial. To start the C++ version use the `tutorialname`
executables, to start the ISPC version use the `tutorialname_ispc`
executables.
For all tutorials, you can select an initial camera using the `-vp`
(camera position), `-vi` (camera look-at point), `-vu` (camera up
vector), and `-fov` (vertical field of view) command line parameters:
./triangle_geometry -vp 10 10 10 -vi 0 0 0
You can select the initial windows size using the `-size` command line
parameter, or start the tutorials in fullscreen using the `-fullscreen`
parameter:
./triangle_geometry -size 1024 1024
./triangle_geometry -fullscreen
Implementation specific parameters can be passed to the ray tracing core
through the `-rtcore` command line parameter, e.g.:
./triangle_geometry -rtcore verbose=2,threads=1,accel=bvh4.triangle1
The navigation in the interactive display mode follows the camera orbit
model, where the camera revolves around the current center of interest.
With the left mouse button you can rotate around the center of interest
(the point initially set with `-vi`). Holding Control pressed while
clicking the left mouse button rotates the camera around its location.
You can also use the arrow keys for navigation.
You can use the following keys:
F1
: Default shading
F2
: Gray EyeLight shading
F3
: Wireframe shading
F4
: UV Coordinate visualization
F5
: Geometry normal visualization
F6
: Geometry ID visualization
F7
: Geometry ID and Primitive ID visualization
F8
: Simple shading with 16 rays per pixel for benchmarking.
F9
: Switches to render cost visualization. Pressing again reduces
brightness.
F10
: Switches to render cost visualization. Pressing again increases
brightness.
f
: Enters or leaves full screen mode.
c
: Prints camera parameters.
ESC
: Exits the tutorial.
q
: Exits the tutorial.
Triangle Geometry
-----------------
![][imgTriangleGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the creation of a static cube and ground
plane using triangle meshes. It also demonstrates the use of the
`rtcIntersect` and `rtcOccluded` functions to render primary visibility
and hard shadows. The cube sides are colored based on the ID of the hit
primitive.
Dynamic Scene
-------------
![][imgDynamicScene]
This tutorial demonstrates the creation of a dynamic scene, consisting
of several deformed spheres. Half of the spheres use the
`RTC_GEOMETRY_DEFORMABLE` flag, which allows Embree to use a refitting
strategy for these spheres, the other half uses the
`RTC_GEOMETRY_DYNAMIC` flag, causing a rebuild of their spatial data
structure each frame. The spheres are colored based on the ID of the hit
sphere geometry.
User Geometry
-------------
![][imgUserGeometry]
This tutorial shows the use of user defined geometry, to re-implement
instancing and to add analytic spheres. A two level scene is created,
with a triangle mesh as ground plane, and several user geometries, that
instance other scenes with a small number of spheres of different kind.
The spheres are colored using the instance ID and geometry ID of the hit
sphere, to demonstrate how the same geometry, instanced in different
ways can be distinguished.
Viewer
------
![][imgViewer]
This tutorial demonstrates a simple OBJ viewer that traces primary
visibility rays only. A scene consisting of multiple meshes is created,
each mesh sharing the index and vertex buffer with the application.
Demonstrated is also how to support additional per vertex data, such as
shading normals.
You need to specify an OBJ file at the command line for this tutorial to
work:
./viewer -i model.obj
Stream Viewer
-------------
![][imgViewerStream]
This tutorial demonstrates a simple OBJ viewer that demonstrates the
use of ray streams. You need to specify an OBJ file at the command
line for this tutorial to work:
./viewer_stream -i model.obj
Instanced Geometry
------------------
![][imgInstancedGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the in-build instancing feature of Embree, by
instancing a number of other scenes build from triangulated spheres. The
spheres are again colored using the instance ID and geometry ID of the
hit sphere, to demonstrate how the same geometry, instanced in different
ways can be distinguished.
Intersection Filter
-------------------
![][imgIntersectionFilter]
This tutorial demonstrates the use of filter callback functions to
efficiently implement transparent objects. The filter function used for
primary rays, lets the ray pass through the geometry if it is entirely
transparent. Otherwise the shading loop handles the transparency
properly, by potentially shooting secondary rays. The filter function
used for shadow rays accumulates the transparency of all surfaces along
the ray, and terminates traversal if an opaque occluder is hit.
Pathtracer
----------
![][imgPathtracer]
This tutorial is a simple path tracer, building on the viewer tutorial.
You need to specify an OBJ file and light source at the command line for
this tutorial to work:
./pathtracer -i model.obj -ambientlight 1 1 1
As example models we provide the "Austrian Imperial Crown" model by
[Martin Lubich](www.loramel.net) and the "Asian Dragon" model from the
[Stanford 3D Scanning Repository](http://graphics.stanford.edu/data/3Dscanrep/).
[crown.zip](https://github.com/embree/models/releases/download/release/crown.zip)
[asian_dragon.zip](https://github.com/embree/models/releases/download/release/asian_dragon.zip)
To render these models execute the following:
./pathtracer -c crown/crown.ecs
./pathtracer -c asian_dragon/asian_dragon.ecs
Hair
----
![][imgHairGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the use of the hair geometry to render a
hairball.
Bézier Curves
-------------
![][imgCurveGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the use of the Bézier curve geometry.
Subdivision Geometry
--------------------
![][imgSubdivisionGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the use of Catmull Clark subdivision
surfaces. Per default the edge tessellation level is set adaptively
based on the distance to the camera origin. Embree currently supports
three different modes for efficiently handling subdivision surfaces in
various rendering scenarios. These three modes can be selected at the
command line, e.g. `-lazy` builds internal per subdivision patch data
structures on demand, `-cache` uses a small (per thread) tessellation
cache for caching per patch data, and `-pregenerate` to generate and
store most per patch data during the initial build process. The
`cache` mode is most effective for coherent rays while providing a
fixed memory footprint. The `pregenerate` modes is most effective for
incoherent ray distributions while requiring more memory. The `lazy`
mode works similar to the `pregenerate` mode but provides a middle
ground in terms of memory consumption as it only builds and stores
data only when the corresponding patch is accessed during the ray
traversal. The `cache` mode is currently a bit more efficient at
handling dynamic scenes where only the edge tessellation levels are
changing per frame.
Displacement Geometry
---------------------
![][imgDisplacementGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates the use of Catmull Clark subdivision
surfaces with procedural displacement mapping using a constant edge
tessellation level.
Motion Blur Geometry
--------------------
![][imgMotionBlurGeometry]
This tutorial demonstrates rendering of motion blur using the multi
segment motion blur feature. Shown is motion blur of a triangle mesh,
quad mesh, subdivision surface, line segments, hair geometry, bezier
curves, instantiated triangle mesh where the instance moves,
instantiated quad mesh where the instance and the quads move, and user
geometry.
The number of time steps used can be configured using the --time-steps
and --time-steps2 command line parameters, and the geometry
can be rendered at a specific time using the the --time command
line parameter.
Interpolation
-------------
![][imgInterpolation]
This tutorial demonstrates interpolation of user defined per vertex data.
BVH Builder
-----------
This tutorial demonstrates how to use the templated hierarchy builders
of Embree to build a bounding volume hierarchy with a user defined
memory layout using a high quality SAH builder and very fast morton
builder.
BVH Access
-----------
This tutorial demonstrates how to access the internal triangle
acceleration structure build by Embree. Please be aware that the
internal Embree data structures might change between Embree updates.
Find Embree
-----------
This tutorial demonstrates how to use the `FIND_PACKAGE` CMake feature
to use an installed Embree. Under Linux and Mac OS X the tutorial finds
the Embree installation automatically, under Windows the `embree_DIR`
CMake variable has to be set to the following folder of the Embree
installation: `C:\Program Files\Intel\Embree
X.Y.Z\lib\cmake\embree-X.Y.Z`.
[Embree API]: #embree-api
[Ray Layout]: #ray-layout
[Extending the Ray Structure]: #extending-the-ray-structure
[Embree Example Renderer]: https://embree.github.io/renderer.html
[Triangle Geometry]: #triangle-geometry
[Stream Viewer]: #stream-viewer
[User Geometry]: #user-geometry
[Instanced Geometry]: #instanced-geometry
[Intersection Filter]: #intersection-filter
[Hair]: #hair
[Curves]: #bézier-curves
[Subdivision Geometry]: #subdivision-geometry
[Displacement Geometry]: #displacement-geometry
[BVH Builder]: #bvh-builder
[Interpolation]: #interpolation
[Individual Contributor License Agreement (ICLA)]: https://embree.github.io/data/Embree-ICLA.pdf
[Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA)]: https://embree.github.io/data/Embree-CCLA.pdf
[imgTriangleUV]: https://embree.github.io/images/triangle_uv.png
[imgQuadUV]: https://embree.github.io/images/quad_uv.png
[imgTriangleGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/triangle_geometry.jpg
[imgDynamicScene]: https://embree.github.io/images/dynamic_scene.jpg
[imgUserGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/user_geometry.jpg
[imgViewer]: https://embree.github.io/images/viewer.jpg
[imgViewerStream]: https://embree.github.io/images/viewer_stream.jpg
[imgInstancedGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/instanced_geometry.jpg
[imgIntersectionFilter]: https://embree.github.io/images/intersection_filter.jpg
[imgPathtracer]: https://embree.github.io/images/pathtracer.jpg
[imgHairGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/hair_geometry.jpg
[imgCurveGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/curve_geometry.jpg
[imgSubdivisionGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/subdivision_geometry.jpg
[imgDisplacementGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/displacement_geometry.jpg
[imgMotionBlurGeometry]: https://embree.github.io/images/motion_blur_geometry.jpg
[imgInterpolation]: https://embree.github.io/images/interpolation.jpg