Optimized data transfer for time-dependent, GPU-based glyphs

Particle-based simulations are a popular tool for researchers in various sciences. In combination with the availability of ever larger COTS clusters and the consequently increasing number of simulated particles the resulting datasets pose a challenge for real-time visualization. Additionally the semantic density of the particles exceeds the possibilities of basic glyphs, like splats or spheres and results in dataset sizes larger by at least an order of magnitude. Interactive visualization on common workstations requires a careful optimization of the data management, especially of the transfer between CPU and GPU. We propose a flexible benchmarking tool along with a series of tests to allow the evaluation of the performance of different CPU/GPU combinations in relation to a particular implementation. We evaluate different uploading strategies and rendering methods for point-based compound glyphs suitable for representing the aforementioned datasets. CPU and GPU-based approaches are com...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: APVIS
• Authors: Sebastian Grottel, Guido Reina, Thomas Ertl
• Keywords: APVIS 2007, APVIS 2009, Flexible Benchmarking Tool, Larger Cots Clusters, Point-based Compound Glyphs