Optimizing a Ray Tracer by Building a Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH)

Explore advanced techniques for optimizing a ray tracer by building a Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) in this 52-minute coding adventure video. Learn how to speed up rendering for intricate scenes through various optimization strategies. Begin with creating a triangle-test debug view, then delve into nested bounding boxes and BVH construction. Master BVH traversal, GPU-friendly data structures, and the conversion of recursion to iteration. Discover methods to increase BVH depth, implement distance tests, and apply the Surface Area Heuristic. Gain insights into speeding up construction, utilizing 32-byte nodes, handling transformations, and supporting multiple models. Conclude with practical tests and final thoughts on ray tracing optimization techniques.

Intro
Triangle-Test Debug View
Bounding Boxes Inside of Bounding Boxes
Building a BVH
Traversing the BVH
GPU-Friendly Data
Converting Recursion to Iteration
Box-Test Debug View
Increasing the Depth of the BVH
Distance Test and Child Ordering
The Surface Area Heuristic
Speeding up the Construction
32-Byte Nodes
Transformations
Supporting Multiple Models
Some Tests and Final Thoughts