[vtkusers] parallel rendering on multi-core PCs>>

[Berk Geveci]

Just a comment on this. It depends on what you mean by "rendering". If
you are using some software based algorithm such as fixed point
ray-cast volume rendering, using MPI on a shared memory machine would
work well, probably using Mesa for the final rendering and then Ice-T
for compositing. If you are rendering polygons and you still have 1
graphics card, adding more cores is not going to help you. Unless you
have enough cores that software rendering is actually faster than
hardware rendering. We have been experimenting with multi-threaded
software renderers that compete with the GPU when you increase the
number of cores beyond a certain threshold.

-berk

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Theodore Holden<theodoreholden at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Ted
>
> ________________________________
> From: David E DeMarle <dave.demarle at kitware.com>
> To: Michael Jackson <mike.jackson at bluequartz.net>
> Cc: Theodore Holden <theodoreholden at yahoo.com>; VTK <vtkusers at vtk.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 4:51:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [vtkusers] parallel rendering on multi-core PCs>>
>
> I agree with Mike.
>
> A good MPI implementation can run parallel VTK (and ParaView)
> efficiently on SMP machines.
> It is true that a native multithreaded application would be more
> efficient. I have heard rumours of at least two groups who are trying
> to address the issue.
>
> You should also know the VTK does have some thread level parallelism
> built in, mostly inside the Imaging filters, where the technique
> frequently returns maximum benefits more or less trivially.
>
> David E DeMarle
> Kitware, Inc.
> R&D Engineer
> 28 Corporate Drive
> Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
> Phone: 518-371-3971 x109
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:13 PM, Michael
> Jackson<mike.jackson at bluequartz.net> wrote:
>> MPI is your friend on this.
>>
>> _________________________________________________________
>> Mike Jackson                  mike.jackson at bluequartz.net
>> BlueQuartz Software                    www.bluequartz.net
>> Principal Software Engineer                  Dayton, Ohio
>>
>> On Jun 30, 2009, at 4:08 PM, Theodore Holden wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Another dumb question here.....
>>>
>>> All of the information I've found so far related to parallel rendering
>>> using VTK involves the use of multiple individual computers and dates
>>> from
>>> five or six years ago.
>>>
>>> Is there such a thing as using one of the new multi-core chip PCs for
>>> parallel rendering applications?   I notice that MicroCenter is selling a
>>> P7
>>> desktop for around $800 now and you'd think the idea would occur to
>>> somebody.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ted
>>>
>>
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