Download
1 / 19
200 likes | 502 Views
Computer Graphics Hardware Acceleration for Embedded Level Systems. Brian Murray 02-15-2002. Topics. Why? Introduction to Computer Graphics Object Representation Object Rasterization Graphics Hardware Goals Problems Architecture Embedded System Optimizations. Object Representation.
E N D
Computer Graphics Hardware Acceleration for Embedded Level Systems Brian Murray 02-15-2002
Topics • Why? • Introduction to Computer Graphics • Object Representation • Object Rasterization • Graphics Hardware • Goals • Problems • Architecture • Embedded System Optimizations
Object Representation • Goals • Display images to user • Be able to represent images in abstract form • Solution • Use specialized algorithms that take primitives and convert them into “pixels”.
Primitive Transformations • Geometric Transformation • Move Primitives/Polygons (Triangles) to correct positions in 3D space. • Project 3D points onto 2D points • Lighting • Use lights to correctly color and shade the triangles • Rasterization • Convert the resulting objects (triangles) into pixels
Rasterization - Interpolation • Interpolation of Points • Use the coordinates at each point and find the points between. • Find the points between the points on the lines.
Rasterization – Lighting/Shading • Phong Illumination • Position of Lights • Orientation of polygon • Position of viewer • Gouraud Shading • Interpolate colors of at the points of the triangle. lights I=Iaka+[Ip(kdcos+ksconn)] n=0
Rasterization - Texturing • Map the points of a Texture on the points of a Triangle. • Each triangle point has a screen coordinate (x,y) • Each triangle point has a texture coordinate (u,v) • Use interpolation to find the points between.
Rasterization – Depth Checking Frame Buffer • Z-Buffer • Stores Z values of points as it is rasterizing • Check against the Z-Buffer to find out if you are near or farther from the screen. • If closer, write to Z-Buffer and Frame-Buffer (screen) Z Buffer
Graphics Hardware • Goals • Implement the functionality of graphics processing in hardware. • Speed is usually the main factor • Can be very expensive
Graphics Hardware - Problems • Problems • Many Many Memory Accesses • Large amounts of Floating point math • Must be efficiently pipelined and fast • Requires large amounts of memory, especially for multiple frame-buffers.
Space Cores must take up minimal area Power Power constraints are tight Speed Must be fast enough to be useful Memory Memory is limited Heat Speed and power demands generate heat, to which many systems are not tolerant Embedded System Concerns
Embedded Solutions • Off load Geometric Transformations to CPU • Disregard Post-Rasterizer Functions • Use an asynchronous pipeline • Shut off portions not in use or already done • Try to make maximum usage of memory available • Do as many functions as possible in fixed point • Simplify architecture and make system scalable • Eliminate extra precision to minimize hardware
Rasterization Solution - DDS • Sort all vertices from top to bottom • Determine the x/y “slope” of each edge • Determine the x starting point (x=slope+ceil(y)-y) • Add to x the slope at each y while moving down the screen to get beginning and ending points. • Interpolate between those points Kugler, A.. “The Setup for Triangle Rasterization”, Proceedings of the 11th Eurographics Workshop on Graphics Hardware, Poitiers, France, August 1996, pp. 49--58.
Fixed Point Lighting • Convert all vector math to Log(2) domain • Use 16bit vectors • Less than 1 percent color error opposed to floating point Chen, C-H; Lees, C-Y, “A cost effective lighting processor for 3D graphics application”, Image Processing, 1999. ICIP 99. Proceedings. 1999 International Conference on, Volume: 2 , 1999 ,pp2 792 –796.
Verification Procedures • Verification • Simulate memory accesses for cache optimization • Simulate Architecture for flow and control verification • Simulate Rasterization with fixed and floating to show possible error rates • Create a hardware model and verify with FPGA
Future Work • Enhance an Embedded processor for geometric transformations • Scale the system with a parallel architecture (i.e. mini-frame buffers) • Add modern features such as mip-mapping, per-pixel operations, and z-buffer compression (or pyramidal) • Cache implementations for the system : new localities and enhanced memories
