nemesis wrote:
> Chambers escreveu:
>> I can't recall POV-Ray ever being one of the fastest raytracers around. 
> 
> I can recall it being used as a useful benchmarking tool once it got 
> multicore.

So can I, but what has that to do with whether or not POV is the fastest 
raytracer around?

> In any cases, you get it wrong:  the amazing speed up is not due to 
> native GPU triangle handling, but faster ray intersection calculations 
> thanks to the GPU sheer parallel vector processing.  You can see that in 
> smallptGPU where you get perfect math spheres much faster, no meshes in 
> sight.

Yes, I'm familiar with the architecture.  However, that was one specific 
instance of how other programs compromise quality where POV doesn't. 
It's not the only way.

Other programs, for instance, also do some or all of the following: 
tesselate objects, make liberal use of floats, use fixed textures rather 
than procedural, and handle lighting via precomputed lightmaps.  This 
list is by no means exhaustive nor definitive.

If POV were to accept such optimizations, then it, too, could be made to 
run well on upcoming GPUs (I still doubt the current crop would do well).

...Chambers

Post a reply to this message