Temporal and spatial coherence in ray tracing
A ray trace operation includes tracing a ray from an origin point in accordance with a ray path into a virtual environment (where the virtual environment comprises one or more virtual objects defined by one or more object components) and determining an intersected object component of the one or more object components that the ray intersects with. Determining the intersected object component comprises accessing (i) ray trace temporal coherence data based upon a preceding ray trace operation that temporally precedes the ray trace operation or (ii) ray trace spatial coherence data based upon a spatially proximate ray trace operation.
1. A system for performing ray trace operations based upon temporal coherence data, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more hardware storage devices that store instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the system to:
perform a ray trace operation, comprising:
tracing a ray from an origin point in accordance with a ray path into a virtual environment, the virtual environment comprising one or more virtual objects defined by one or more object components; and
determining an intersected object component of the one or more object components that the ray intersects with, wherein determining the intersected object component utilizes ray trace temporal coherence data based upon a preceding ray trace operation that temporally precedes the ray trace operation, wherein determining the intersected object component of the one or more object components comprises:
testing whether the ray intersects with a preceding intersected object component of the one or more object components that a preceding ray of the preceding ray trace operation was determined to intersect with; and
after determining that the ray does not intersect with the preceding intersected object component, testing whether the ray intersects with at least one neighboring object component of a set of neighboring object components, wherein the set of neighboring object components is based on the preceding intersected object component.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the intersected object component further comprises:
after determining that the ray does not intersect with at least one neighboring object component of the set of neighboring object components, testing whether the ray intersects with any of one or more nodes of an acceleration structure, wherein the one or more nodes encompass the preceding intersected object component; and
after determining that the ray intersects with a particular node of the one or more nodes, testing whether the ray intersects with (i) any child nodes of the particular node or (ii) any object components of the one or more object components encompassed by the particular node.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein determining the intersected object component further comprises, after determining that the ray does not intersect with any of the one or more nodes, testing whether the ray intersects with a plurality of object components of a virtual object of the one or more virtual objects that includes the preceding intersected object component.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ray trace temporal coherence data is selected based upon one or more motion vectors associated with the origin point, a virtual camera, at least one virtual object, or at least one object component within the virtual environment.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ray trace operation further comprises, in response to determining the intersected object component, testing whether the ray intersects with one or more additional intersected object components between the origin point and the intersected object component.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein testing whether the ray intersects with the one or more additional intersected object components comprises:
determining a set of candidate virtual objects based upon motion attributes of one or more virtual objects or a virtual camera within the virtual environment; and
determining whether the ray intersects with object components of the set of candidate virtual objects.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ray trace operation further comprises:
in response to determining the intersected object component, refraining from testing whether the ray intersects with one or more additional intersected object components between the intersected object component and a source object within the virtual environment.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ray trace operation further comprises, in response to failing to determine the intersected object component using the ray trace temporal coherence data, testing the ray against at least part of the virtual environment utilizing one or more acceleration structures to determine the intersected object component, and wherein testing the ray against at least the part of the virtual environment utilizing the one or more acceleration structures comprises refraining from testing the ray against components of at least the virtual environment or the one or more acceleration structures against which the ray was tested based upon the ray trace temporal coherence data.
9. A method for performing ray trace operations based upon temporal coherence data, comprising:
performing a ray trace operation, comprising:
tracing a ray from an origin point in accordance with a ray path into a virtual environment, the virtual environment comprising one or more virtual objects defined by one or more object components; and
determining an intersected object component of the one or more object components that the ray intersects with, wherein determining the intersected object component utilizes ray trace temporal coherence data based upon a preceding ray trace operation that temporally precedes the ray trace operation, wherein determining the intersected object component of the one or more object components comprises:
testing whether the ray intersects with a preceding intersected object component of the one or more object components that a preceding ray of the preceding ray trace operation was determined to intersect with; and
after determining that the ray does not intersect with the preceding intersected object component, testing whether the ray intersects with at least one neighboring object component of a set of neighboring object components, wherein the set of neighboring object components is based on the preceding intersected object component.