mike@BRL.MIL (Michael John Muuss <mike>) (12/06/90)
Archive-name: graphics/raytrace/brl-cad/1990-12-04 Archive-directory: ftp.brl.mil:/brl-cad/ [128.63.16.6] Original-posting-by: mike@BRL.MIL (Michael John Muuss <mike>) Original-subject: Re: Any interest in a parallel raytracer? Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) In article <105@avatar.avatar.com>, kory@avatar.avatar.com (Kory Hamzeh) writes: |> I wrote a parallel raytracer (named 'prt') a while back ... |> - Runs on multiple heterogeneous machines networked together |> using TCP/IP. |> - Crude load balancing. Well, the BRL-CAD Package ray-tracer operates both on shared memory multi-processors, as well as in a network-distributed mode. While not PD, it is free. I have written about it in a number of articles, including: %K MUUS90a %A M. J. Muuss %T Workstations, Networking, Distributed Graphics, and Parallel Processing %E D. F. Rogers, R. A. Earnshaw %B Computer Graphics Techniques: Theory and Practice %I Springer-Verlag %D 1990 While not "super sophisticated", the load balancing algorithm is non-trivial. It assigns pixel blocks of variable size. Three assignments are outstanding to each worker at any time, to pipeline against network delay. New assignment size is tuned, based upon measured past performance (weighted average with variable weighting, depending on circumstances). I'd certainly be interested in seeing a copy of your work. Best, -Mike Muuss Advanced Computer Systems Ballistic Research Laboratory APG, MD 21005-5066