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Abstract

Object hierarchies are useful for different rendering applications. In
hierarchical radiosity, for instance, the quality of lighting simulations
can be improved through well-adapted object hierarchies. Using a different
criterion for constructing the hierarchies may lead to significant
speed-ups for typical ray tracing applications.

In this paper we introduce a new method for automatically creating
object hierarchies. Our algorithm inserts all scene objects sequentially
into the hierarchy created so far. The insertion decision is based on a
user-defined cost function. Thus the algorithm can be guided to create
customized object hierarchies appropriate to the desired application.

In addition, a global optimization may be used to improve the completed
hierarchy even further. During this optimization step ill-formed groups
are eliminated by breaking up or splitting. The results obtained with our
method demonstrate the benefit of customized hierarchies over traditional
ones.