[brlcad-devel] GSoC "OpenCL GPGPU Raytracing"

[Alvis Wong]

Hi everyone,

I am interested in joining in GSoC this year, I have a technical background
in C/C++, GPU programming and web development. The "OpenCL GPGPU
Raytracing" caught my attention and I would love to learn more about it.
Please let me know if this is the right place to get information concerning
the plan and technical details of the project. Thanks!

This is my first time using mailing list, please let me know if I'm using
it inappropriately.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,
Alvis

[Christopher Sean Morrison]

Post by Alvis Wong
Hi everyone,

Hi Alvis and welcome!

Post by Alvis Wong
I am interested in joining in GSoC this year, I have a technical background in C/C++, GPU programming and web development. The "OpenCL GPGPU Raytracing" caught my attention and I would love to learn more about it. Please let me know if this is the right place to get information concerning the plan and technical details of the project. Thanks!

In addition to the references provided on our ideas page, you should start with the previous efforts:

http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2016 <http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2016>
http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2015 <http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2015>

Given there are many complexities involved, one of the critically necessary aspects of a GPGPU proposal will be demonstrating you can pick up where one of those projects left off and proposing something specific. This is best demonstrated through a working patch of some sort in addition to a well-researched proposal writeup.

Cheers!
Sean

[Vasco Alexandre da Silva Costa]

Welcome Alvis!

In addition to what Sean said, I would like to add that you can start by
writing a patch to port one of the ray-tracing primitives from C to OpenCL,
like the Heart (HRT) or Hyperboloid (HYP) primitives to get familiar with
the code. This should not be hard to do since you can start with the source
code of one of the already ported primitives as a template (e.g. EHY).
The relevant files should be located in the 'src/librt/primitives' source
code directory and its subdirectories.

If you are not familiar with BRL-CAD but are familiar with CAD in general I
highly recommend that you get the "MGED Quick Reference Card". For OpenCL
you should get the "OpenCL 1.2 Quick Reference Card".

As for what do in the GSoC period proper there should be plenty of
proposals in the Wiki. These include boolean evaluation for CSG, BREP, and
more advanced primitives (e.g. Pipe). Since there is someone already
interested in working on boolean evaluation for CSG this year, you could
start work on the BREP evaluation.

What I wrote above are just suggestions that should already be in the Wiki.
You are more than welcome to come up with your own proposal.

Cheers,

Post by Alvis Wong
Hi everyone,
Hi Alvis and welcome!
I am interested in joining in GSoC this year, I have a technical
background in C/C++, GPU programming and web development. The "OpenCL GPGPU
Raytracing" caught my attention and I would love to learn more about it.
Please let me know if this is the right place to get information concerning
the plan and technical details of the project. Thanks!
In addition to the references provided on our ideas page, you should start
http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2016
http://brlcad.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2015
Given there are many complexities involved, one of the critically
necessary aspects of a GPGPU proposal will be demonstrating you can pick up
where one of those projects left off and proposing something specific.
This is best demonstrated through a working patch of some sort in addition
to a well-researched proposal writeup.
Cheers!
Sean
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