ABSTRACT
Ray tracing is an elegant solution to render high-quality images. By combining Monte Carlo integration with ray tracing, we can solve the rendering equation. However, a disadvantage of using ray tracing is its high computational cost, which makes render time long. To improve the performance, GPUs have been used. However, GPU ray tracers typically do not have as many features as CPU ray tracers. Vector displacement mapping is one of the features that we do not see much in GPU ray tracers. When vector displacement mapping is evaluated on the fly (i.e., without creating a large number of polygons in the preprocess and storing them in the memory), it allows us to render a highly geometric detailed scene from a simple mesh. Since geometric detail is an important factor for realism, vector displacement mapping is an important technique in ray tracing. In this chapter, we describe a method to render vector displacement-mapped surfaces in a GPU ray tracer.
