The Open VKL API is provided in two parts: a host-side API which is responsible for object creation and configuration (e.g. instantiating new volumes and providing data from the application), and a device-side API which provides access to low-level kernels such as volume sampling and iteration. The host-side API is identical for all Open VKL device implementations, while the device-side API varies slightly between device implementations.
To access the Open VKL host-side API you first need to include the Open VKL header. For C99 or C++:
#include <openvkl/openvkl.h>
Additionally, the device-side APIs are provided through a device-specific header provided by the currently linked-to device:
#include <openvkl/device/openvkl.h>
CPU applications using the Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC) can include the host- and device-side APIs similarly via:
#include <openvkl/openvkl.isph>
#include <openvkl/device/openvkl.isph>
This documentation will discuss the C99/C++ API. The ISPC version has the same
functionality and flavor. Looking at the headers, the vklTutorialISPC
example, and this documentation should be enough to figure it out.
To use the API, one of the implemented backends must be linked at compile time. Currently both a CPU and GPU device are available. To link one of these devices within CMake, use for example:
target_link_libraries(myApp PRIVATE openvkl::openvkl openvkl::openvkl_module_cpu_device)
or
target_link_libraries(myApp PRIVATE openvkl::openvkl openvkl::openvkl_module_gpu_device)
The application code must then first initialize Open VKL:
vklInit();
A device then needs to be instantiated, either via:
VKLDevice device = vklNewDevice("cpu");
or
VKLDevice device = vklNewDevice("gpu");
By default, the CPU device selects the maximum supported SIMD width (and
associated ISA) for the system. Optionally, a specific width may be requested
using the cpu_4, cpu_8, or cpu_16 device names. Note that the system
must support the given width (SSE4.1 for 4-wide, AVX for 8-wide, and AVX512 for
16-wide).
Once a device is created, you can call
void vklDeviceSetInt(VKLDevice, const char *name, int val);
void vklDeviceSetString(VKLDevice, const char *name, const char *val);
to set parameters on the device. The following parameters are understood by all devices:
Type Name Description
int logLevel logging level; valid values are VKL_LOG_DEBUG,
VKL_LOG_INFO, VKL_LOG_WARNING, VKL_LOG_ERROR and
VKL_LOG_NONE
string logOutput convenience for setting where log messages go; valid
values are cout, cerr and none
string errorOutput convenience for setting where error messages go; valid
values are cout, cerr and none
int numThreads number of threads which Open VKL can use
int flushDenormals sets the Flush to Zero and Denormals are Zero mode
of the MXCSR control and status register (default: 1);
see Performance Recommendations section for details
: Parameters shared by all devices.
Additionally, the following parameters are understood by the gpu device:
Type Name Description
void * syclContext REQUIRED: pointer to a valid SYCL context
: Parameters understood by the gpu device
Once parameters are set, the device must be committed with
vklCommitDevice(device);
The newly committed device is then ready to use. Users may change parameters on a device after initialization. In this case the device would need to be re-committed.
All Open VKL objects are associated with a device. A device handle must be
explicitly provided when creating volume and data objects, via vklNewVolume()
and vklNewData() respectively. Other object types are automatically associated
with a device via transitive dependency on a volume.
On CPU, Open VKL provides vector-wide versions for several APIs. To determine the native vector width for a given device, call:
int width = vklGetNativeSIMDWidth(VKLDevice device);
When the application is finished with an Open VKL device or shutting down, release the device via:
vklReleaseDevice(VKLDevice device);
The generic device parameters can be overridden via environment variables for
easy changes to Open VKL’s behavior without needing to change the application
(variables are prefixed by convention with "OPENVKL_"):
Variable Description
OPENVKL_LOG_LEVEL logging level; valid values are debug, info,
warning, error and none
OPENVKL_LOG_OUTPUT convenience for setting where log messages go; valid
values are cout, cerr and none
OPENVKL_ERROR_OUTPUT convenience for setting where error messages go; valid
values are cout, cerr and none
OPENVKL_THREADS number of threads which Open VKL can use
OPENVKL_FLUSH_DENORMALS sets the Flush to Zero and Denormals are Zero mode
of the MXCSR control and status register (default: 1);
see Performance Recommendations section for details
: Environment variables understood by all devices.
Note that these environment variables take precedence over values set through
the vklDeviceSet*() functions.
Additionally, the CPU device's default SIMD width can be overriden at run time
with the OPENVKL_CPU_DEVICE_DEFAULT_WIDTH environment variable. Legal values
are 4, 8, or 16. This setting is only applicable when the generic cpu device
is instantiated; if a specific width is requested via the cpu_[4,8,16] device
names then the environment variable is ignored.
The following errors are currently used by Open VKL:
Name Description
VKL_NO_ERROR no error occurred
VKL_UNKNOWN_ERROR an unknown error occurred
VKL_INVALID_ARGUMENT an invalid argument was specified
VKL_INVALID_OPERATION the operation is not allowed for the specified object
VKL_OUT_OF_MEMORY there is not enough memory to execute the command
VKL_UNSUPPORTED_CPU the CPU is not supported (minimum ISA is SSE4.1)
: Possible error codes, i.e., valid named constants of type VKLError.
These error codes are either directly returned by some API functions, or are recorded to be later queried by the application via
VKLError vklDeviceGetLastErrorCode(VKLDevice);
A more descriptive error message can be queried by calling
const char* vklDeviceGetLastErrorMsg(VKLDevice);
Alternatively, the application can also register a callback function of type
typedef void (*VKLErrorCallback)(void *, VKLError, const char* message);
via
void vklDeviceSetErrorCallback(VKLDevice, VKLErrorFunc, void *);
to get notified when errors occur. Applications may be interested in messages which Open VKL emits, whether for debugging or logging events. Applications can register a callback function of type
typedef void (*VKLLogCallback)(void *, const char* message);
via
void vklDeviceSetLogCallback(VKLDevice, VKLLogCallback, void *);
which Open VKL will use to emit log messages. Applications can clear either
callback by passing nullptr instead of an actual function pointer. By default,
Open VKL uses cout and cerr to emit log and error messages, respectively.
The last parameter to vklDeviceSetErrorCallback and vklDeviceSetLogCallback
is a user data pointer. Open VKL passes this pointer to the callback functions as
the first parameter.
Note that in addition to setting the above callbacks, this behavior can be
changed via the device parameters and environment variables described
previously.
Open VKL defines 3-component vectors of integer and float types:
typedef struct
{
int x, y, z;
} vkl_vec3i;
typedef struct
{
float x, y, z;
} vkl_vec3f;
Vector versions of these are also defined in structure-of-array format for 4, 8, and 16 wide types.
typedef struct
{
float x[WIDTH];
float y[WIDTH];
float z[WIDTH];
} vkl_vvec3f##WIDTH;
typedef struct
{
float lower[WIDTH], upper[WIDTH];
} vkl_vrange1f##WIDTH;
1-D range and 3-D ranges are defined as ranges and boxes, with no vector versions:
typedef struct
{
float lower, upper;
} vkl_range1f;
typedef struct
{
vkl_vec3f lower, upper;
} vkl_box3f;
Objects in Open VKL are exposed to the APIs as handles with internal reference
counting for lifetime determination. Objects are created with each particular
type's vklNew... API entry point. For example, vklNewData and vklNewVolume.
In general, modifiable parameters to objects are modified using vklSet...
functions based on the type of the parameter being set. The parameter name is
passed as a string. Below are variants of vklSet....
void vklSetBool(VKLObject object, const char *name, int b);
void vklSetFloat(VKLObject object, const char *name, float x);
void vklSetVec3f(VKLObject object, const char *name, float x, float y, float z);
void vklSetInt(VKLObject object, const char *name, int x);
void vklSetVec3i(VKLObject object, const char *name, int x, int y, int z);
void vklSetData(VKLObject object, const char *name, VKLData data);
void vklSetString(VKLObject object, const char *name, const char *s);
void vklSetVoidPtr(VKLObject object, const char *name, void *v);
A more generic parameter setter is also available, which allows setting parameters beyond the explicit types above:
void vklSetParam(VKLObject object,
const char *name,
VKLDataType dataType,
const void *mem);
Note that mem must always be a pointer to the object, otherwise accidental
type casting can occur. This is especially true for pointer types
(VKL_VOID_PTR and VKLObject handles), as they will implicitly cast to void\ *, but be incorrectly interpreted.
After parameters have been set, vklCommit must be called on the object to make
them take effect.
Open VKL uses reference counting to manage the lifetime of all objects. Therefore one cannot explicitly "delete" any object. Instead, one can indicate the application does not need or will not access the given object anymore by calling
void vklRelease(VKLObject);
This decreases the object's reference count. If the count reaches 0 the
object will automatically be deleted.
Large data is passed to Open VKL via a VKLData handle created with
vklNewData:
VKLData vklNewData(VKLDevice device,
size_t numItems,
VKLDataType dataType,
const void *source,
VKLDataCreationFlags dataCreationFlags,
size_t byteStride);
Data objects can be created as Open VKL owned (dataCreationFlags = VKL_DATA_DEFAULT), in which the library will make a copy of the data for its
use, or shared (dataCreationFlags = VKL_DATA_SHARED_BUFFER), which will try to
use the passed pointer for usage. The library is allowed to copy data when a
volume is committed. Note that for the gpu device, shared data buffers only
support source data from USM shared allocations.
The distance between consecutive elements in source is given in bytes with
byteStride. If the provided byteStride is zero, then it will be determined
automatically as sizeof(type). Open VKL owned data will be compacted into a
naturally-strided array on copy, regardless of the original byteStride.
As with other object types, when data objects are no longer needed they should
be released via vklRelease.
The enum type VKLDataType describes the different element types that can be
represented in Open VKL. The types accepted vary per volume; see the volume
section for specifics. Valid constants are listed in the table below.
Type/Name Description
VKL_DEVICE API device object reference
VKL_DATA data reference
VKL_OBJECT generic object reference
VKL_VOLUME volume object reference
VKL_STRING C-style zero-terminated character string
VKL_CHAR, VKL_VEC[234]C 8\ bit signed character scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_UCHAR, VKL_VEC[234]UC 8\ bit unsigned character scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_SHORT, VKL_VEC[234]S 16\ bit unsigned integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_USHORT, VKL_VEC[234]US 16\ bit unsigned integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_INT, VKL_VEC[234]I 32\ bit signed integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_UINT, VKL_VEC[234]UI 32\ bit unsigned integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_LONG, VKL_VEC[234]L 64\ bit signed integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_ULONG, VKL_VEC[234]UL 64\ bit unsigned integer scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_HALF, VKL_VEC[234]H 16\ bit half precision floating-point scalar and
[234]-element vector (IEEE 754 binary16)
VKL_FLOAT, VKL_VEC[234]F 32\ bit single precision floating-point scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_DOUBLE, VKL_VEC[234]D 64\ bit double precision floating-point scalar and [234]-element vector
VKL_BOX[1234]I 32\ bit integer box (lower + upper bounds)
VKL_BOX[1234]F 32\ bit single precision floating-point box (lower + upper bounds)
VKL_LINEAR[23]F 32\ bit single precision floating-point linear transform ([23] vectors)
VKL_AFFINE[23]F 32\ bit single precision floating-point affine transform (linear transform plus translation)
VKL_VOID_PTR raw memory address
: Valid named constants for VKLDataType.
Open VKL currently supports structured volumes on regular and spherical grids;
unstructured volumes with tetrahedral, wedge, pyramid, and hexahedral primitive
types; adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) volumes; sparse VDB volumes; and particle
volumes. Volumes are created with vklNewVolume with a device and appropriate
type string:
VKLVolume vklNewVolume(VKLDevice device, const char *type);
In addition to the usual vklSet...() and vklCommit() APIs, the volume
bounding box can be queried:
vkl_box3f vklGetBoundingBox(VKLVolume volume);
The number of attributes in a volume can also be queried:
unsigned int vklGetNumAttributes(VKLVolume volume);
Finally, the value range of the volume for a given attribute can be queried:
vkl_range1f vklGetValueRange(VKLVolume volume, unsigned int attributeIndex);
Structured volumes only need to store the values of the samples, because their
addresses in memory can be easily computed from a 3D position. Data can be
provided either per cell or per vertex (the default), selectable via the
cellCentered parameter. This parameter also affects the interpretation of
the volume's dimensions, which will be in units of cells or vertices,
respectively. A volume with
A common type of structured volumes are regular grids, which are
created by passing a type string of "structuredRegular" to vklNewVolume.
The parameters understood by structured regular volumes are summarized in the
table below.
Type Name Default Description
vec3i dimensions number of values in each
dimension
VKLData data VKLData object(s) of volume data, VKLData[] supported types are:
`VKL_UCHAR`
`VKL_SHORT`
`VKL_USHORT`
`VKL_HALF`
`VKL_FLOAT`
`VKL_DOUBLE`
Multiple attributes are supported
through passing an array of VKLData
objects.
bool cellCentered false indicates if data is provided per cell (true) or per vertex (false)
vec3f gridOrigin
vec3f gridSpacing
affine3f indexToObject 1, 0, 0, Defines the transformation from index
0, 1, 0, space to object space. In index space,
0, 0, 1, the grid is an axis-aligned regular
0, 0, 0 grid, and grid cells have size (1,1,1).
This parameter takes precedence over
gridOrigin and gridSpacing, if
provided.
vec3i indexOrigin gridOrigin,
gridSpacing) or indexToObject
transformation.
uint32 temporalFormat VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_CONSTANT The temporal format for this volume.
Use VKLTemporalFormat for named
constants.
Structured regular volumes support
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_CONSTANT,
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_STRUCTURED, and
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
int temporallyStructuredNumTimesteps For temporally structured variation,
number of timesteps per voxel. Only
valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_STRUCTURED.
uint32[] temporallyUnstructuredIndices For temporally unstructured variation,
uint64[] indices to data time series beginning
per voxel.
Only valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
float[] temporallyUnstructuredTimes For temporally unstructured variation,
time values corresponding to values in
data.
Only valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
float[] background VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED For each attribute, the value that is
returned when sampling an undefined
region outside the volume domain.
: Configuration parameters for structured regular ("structuredRegular") volumes.
Structured regular volumes support temporally structured and temporally unstructured temporal variation. See section 'Temporal Variation' for more detail.
The following additional parameters can be set both on "structuredRegular"
volumes and their sampler objects. Sampler object parameters default to volume
parameters.
Type Name Default Description
int filter VKL_FILTER_LINEAR The filter used for reconstructing the
field. Use VKLFilter for named
constants.
int gradientFilter filter The filter used for reconstructing the
field during gradient computations.
Use VKLFilter for named constants.
: Configuration parameters for structured regular ("structuredRegular") volumes and their sampler objects.
Structured regular volumes support the filter types VKL_FILTER_NEAREST,
VKL_FILTER_LINEAR, and VKL_FILTER_CUBIC for both filter and
gradientFilter.
Note that when gradientFilter is set to VKL_FILTER_NEAREST, gradients are
always
Structured spherical volumes are also supported, which are created by passing a
type string of "structuredSpherical" to vklNewVolume. The grid dimensions
and parameters are defined in terms of radial distance (
![Structured spherical volume coordinate system: radial distance (
Type Name Default Description
vec3i dimensions number of voxels in each
dimension
VKLData data VKLData object(s) of voxel data, VKLData[] supported types are:
`VKL_UCHAR`
`VKL_SHORT`
`VKL_USHORT`
`VKL_HALF`
`VKL_FLOAT`
`VKL_DOUBLE`
Multiple attributes are supported
through passing an array of VKLData
objects.
vec3f gridOrigin
vec3f gridSpacing
float[] background VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED For each attribute, the value that is
returned when sampling an undefined
region outside the volume domain.
: Configuration parameters for structured spherical ("structuredSpherical") volumes.
These grid parameters support flexible specification of spheres, hemispheres,
spherical shells, spherical wedges, and so forth. The grid extents (computed as
$r \geq 0$ $0 \leq \theta \leq 180$ $0 \leq \phi \leq 360$
The following additional parameters can be set both on "structuredSpherical"
volumes and their sampler objects. Sampler object parameters default to volume
parameters.
Type Name Default Description
int filter VKL_FILTER_LINEAR The filter used for reconstructing the
field. Use VKLFilter for named
constants.
int gradientFilter filter The filter used for reconstructing the
field during gradient computations.
Use VKLFilter for named constants.
: Configuration parameters for structured spherical ("structuredSpherical") volumes and their sampler objects.
Open VKL currently supports block-structured (Berger-Colella) AMR volumes. Volumes are specified as a list of blocks, which exist at levels of refinement in potentially overlapping regions. Blocks exist in a tree structure, with coarser refinement level blocks containing finer blocks. The cell width is equal for all blocks at the same refinement level, though blocks at a coarser level have a larger cell width than finer levels.
There can be any number of refinement levels and any number of blocks at any level of refinement.
Blocks are defined by three parameters: their bounds, the refinement level in which they reside, and the scalar data contained within each block.
Note that cell widths are defined per refinement level, not per block.
AMR volumes are created by passing the type string "amr" to vklNewVolume,
and have the following parameters:
Type Name Default Description
float[] cellWidth [data] array of each level's cell width
box3i[] block.bounds [data] array of each block's bounds (in voxels)
int[] block.level [data] array of each block's refinement level
VKLData[] block.data [data] array of each block's VKLData object
containing the actual scalar voxel data.
Currently only VKL_FLOAT data is supported.
vec3f gridOrigin
vec3f gridSpacing
float background VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED The value that is returned when sampling an
undefined region outside the volume domain.
: Configuration parameters for AMR ("amr") volumes.
Note that the gridOrigin and gridSpacing parameters act just like the
structured volume equivalent, but they only modify the root (coarsest level) of
refinement.
The following additional parameters can be set both on "amr"
volumes and their sampler objects. Sampler object parameters default to volume
parameters.
Type Name Default Description
VKLAMRMethod method VKL_AMR_CURRENT VKLAMRMethod sampling method.
Supported methods are:
`VKL_AMR_CURRENT`
`VKL_AMR_FINEST`
`VKL_AMR_OCTANT`
: Configuration parameters for AMR ("AMR") volumes and their sampler objects.
Open VKL's AMR implementation was designed to cover Berger-Colella [1] and
Chombo [2] AMR data. The method parameter above determines the interpolation
method used when sampling the volume.
VKL_AMR_CURRENTfinds the finest refinement level at that cell and interpolates through this "current" levelVKL_AMR_FINESTwill interpolate at the closest existing cell in the volume-wide finest refinement level regardless of the sample cell's levelVKL_AMR_OCTANTinterpolates through all available refinement levels at that cell. This method avoids discontinuities at refinement level boundaries at the cost of performance
Gradients are computed using finite differences, using the method defined on
the sampler.
Details and more information can be found in the publication for the implementation [3].
- M. J. Berger, and P. Colella. "Local adaptive mesh refinement for shock hydrodynamics." Journal of Computational Physics 82.1 (1989): 64-84. DOI: 10.1016/0021-9991(89)90035-1
- M. Adams, P. Colella, D. T. Graves, J.N. Johnson, N.D. Keen, T. J. Ligocki. D. F. Martin. P.W. McCorquodale, D. Modiano. P.O. Schwartz, T.D. Sternberg and B. Van Straalen, Chombo Software Package for AMR Applications - Design Document, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Technical Report LBNL-6616E.
- I. Wald, C. Brownlee, W. Usher, and A. Knoll. CPU volume rendering of adaptive mesh refinement data. SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 Symposium on Visualization on - SA ’17, 18(8), 1–8. DOI: 10.1145/3139295.3139305
Unstructured volumes can have their topology and geometry freely defined. Geometry can be composed of tetrahedral, hexahedral, wedge or pyramid cell types. The data format used is compatible with VTK and consists of multiple arrays: vertex positions and values, vertex indices, cell start indices, cell types, and cell values.
Sampled cell values can be specified either per-vertex (vertex.data) or
per-cell (cell.data). If both arrays are set, cell.data takes precedence.
Similar to a mesh, each cell is formed by a group of indices into the vertices.
For each vertex, the corresponding (by array index) data value will be used for
sampling when rendering, if specified. The index order for a tetrahedron is the
same as VTK_TETRA: bottom triangle counterclockwise, then the top vertex.
For hexahedral cells, each hexahedron is formed by a group of eight indices into
the vertices and data values. Vertex ordering is the same as VTK_HEXAHEDRON:
four bottom vertices counterclockwise, then top four counterclockwise.
For wedge cells, each wedge is formed by a group of six indices into the
vertices and data values. Vertex ordering is the same as VTK_WEDGE: three
bottom vertices counterclockwise, then top three counterclockwise.
For pyramid cells, each cell is formed by a group of five indices into the
vertices and data values. Vertex ordering is the same as VTK_PYRAMID: four
bottom vertices counterclockwise, then the top vertex.
To maintain VTK data compatibility, the index array may be specified with cell
sizes interleaved with vertex indices in the following format: index array layout can be enabled
through the indexPrefixed flag (in which case, the cell.type parameter
should be omitted).
Gradients are computed using finite differences.
Unstructured volumes are created by passing the type string "unstructured" to
vklNewVolume, and have the following parameters:
Type Name Default Description
vec3f[] vertex.position [data] array of vertex positions
float[] vertex.data [data] array of vertex data values to be sampled
uint32[] / uint64[] index [data] array of indices (into the vertex array(s)) that form cells
bool indexPrefixed false indicates that the index array is
provided in a VTK-compatible format,
where the indices of each cell are
prefixed with the number of vertices
uint32[] / uint64[] cell.index [data] array of locations (into the index array), specifying the first index of each cell
float[] cell.data [data] array of cell data values to be sampled
uint8[] cell.type [data] array of cell types (VTK compatible). Supported types are:
`VKL_TETRAHEDRON`
`VKL_HEXAHEDRON`
`VKL_WEDGE`
`VKL_PYRAMID`
bool hexIterative false hexahedron interpolation method, defaults to fast non-iterative version which could have rendering inaccuracies may appear if hex is not parallelepiped
bool precomputedNormals false whether to accelerate by precomputing, at a cost of 12 bytes/face
float background VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED The value that is returned when
sampling an undefined region outside
the volume domain.
: Configuration parameters for unstructured ("unstructured") volumes.
VDB volumes implement a data structure that is very similar to the data structure outlined in Museth [1].
The data structure is a hierarchical regular grid at its core: Nodes are regular grids, and each grid cell may either store a constant value (this is called a tile), or child pointers.
Nodes in VDB trees are wide: Nodes on the first level have a resolution of 32^3 voxels by default, on the next level 16^3, and on the leaf level 8^3 voxels. All nodes on a given level have the same resolution. This makes it easy to find the node containing a coordinate using shift operations (cp. [1]).
VDB leaf nodes are implicit in Open VKL: they are stored as pointers to user-provided data.
![Structure of "vdb" volumes in the default configuration][imgVdbStructure]
VDB volumes interpret input data as constant cells (which are then potentially
filtered). This is in contrast to structuredRegular volumes, which can have
either a vertex-centered or cell-centered interpretation.
The VDB implementation in Open VKL follows the following goals:
-
Efficient data structure traversal on vector architectures.
-
Enable the use of industry-standard .vdb files created through the OpenVDB library.
-
Compatibility with OpenVDB on a leaf data level, so that .vdb files may be loaded with minimal overhead.
VDB volumes are created by passing the type string "vdb" to vklNewVolume, and have the
following parameters:
Type Name Default Description
affine3f indexToObject 1, 0, 0, Defines the transformation from index
float[] 0, 1, 0, space to object space. In index space,
0, 0, 1, the grid is an axis-aligned regular
0, 0, 0 grid, and leaf voxels have size (1,1,1).
A vkl_affine3f can be provided;
alternatively an array of 12 values of
type float can be used, where the
first 9 values are interpreted as a
row-major linear transformation matrix,
and the last 3 values are the
translation of the grid origin.
uint32[] node.format For each input node, the data format.
Currently supported are
VKL_FORMAT_TILE for tiles,
and VKL_FORMAT_DENSE_ZYX for
nodes that are dense regular grids.
uint32[] node.level For each input node, the level on
which this node exists. Tiles may exist
on levels [1, VKL_VDB_NUM_LEVELS-1],
all other nodes may only exist on level
VKL_VDB_NUM_LEVELS-1.
vec3i[] node.origin For each input node, the node origin index.
VKLData[] node.data For each input node, the attribute
data. Single-attribute volumes may have
one array provided per node, while
multi-attribute volumes require an
array per attribute for each node.
Nodes with format VKL_FORMAT_TILE are
expected to have single-entry arrays
per attribute. Nodes with format
VKL_FORMAT_DENSE_ZYX are expected
to have arrays with
vklVdbLevelNumVoxels(level[i])
entries per attribute. VKL_HALF and
VKL_FLOAT data is currently
supported; all nodes for a given
attribute must be the same data type.
uint32[] node.temporalFormat VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_CONSTANT The temporal format for this volume.
Use VKLTemporalFormat for named
constants.
VDB volumes support
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_CONSTANT,
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_STRUCTURED, and
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
int[] node.temporallyStructuredNumTimesteps For temporally structured variation,
number of timesteps per voxel. Only
valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_STRUCTURED.
VKLData[] node.temporallyUnstructuredIndices For temporally unstructured variation,
beginning per voxel. Supported data
types for each node are VKL_UINT
and VKL_ULONG.
Only valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
VKLData[] node.temporallyUnstructuredTimes For temporally unstructured variation,
time values corresponding to values in
node.data. For each node, the data
must be of type VKL_FLOAT.
Only valid if temporalFormat is
VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_UNSTRUCTURED.
VKLData[] nodesPackedDense Optionally provided instead of
node.data, for each attribute a
single array of all dense node data
(VKL_FORMAT_DENSE_ZYX only) in a
contiguous layout, provided in the
same order as the corresponding
node.* parameters. This packed
layout may be more performant.
Supported for temporally constant data
only.
VKLData[] nodesPackedTile Optionally provided instead of
node.data, for each attribute a
single array of all tile node data
(VKL_FORMAT_TILE only) in a
contiguous layout, provided in the
same order as the corresponding
node.* parameters. This packed
layout may be more performant.
Supported for temporally constant data
only.
float[] background VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED For each attribute, the value that is
returned when sampling an undefined
region outside the volume domain.
box3i indexClippingBounds Clips the volume to the specified index-space bounding box. This is useful for volumes with dimensions that are not even multiples of the leaf node dimensions, or .vdb files with restrictive active voxel bounding boxes.
: Configuration parameters for VDB ("vdb") volumes.
The level, origin, format, and data parameters must have the same size, and there must
be at least one valid node or commit() will fail. The nodesPackedDense and
nodesPackedTile parameters may be provided instead of node.data; this packed data
layout may provide better performance.
VDB volumes support temporally structured and temporally unstructured temporal variation. See section 'Temporal Variation' for more detail.
The following additional parameters can be set both on vdb volumes and their sampler
objects (sampler object parameters default to volume parameters).
Type Name Default Description
int filter VKL_FILTER_LINEAR The filter used for reconstructing the
field. Use VKLFilter for named
constants.
int gradientFilter filter The filter used for reconstructing the
field during gradient computations.
Use VKLFilter for named constants.
int maxSamplingDepth VKL_VDB_NUM_LEVELS-1 Do not descend further than to this
depth during sampling.
: Configuration parameters for VDB ("vdb") volumes and their sampler objects.
VDB volume objects support the following observers:
Name Buffer Type Description
InnerNode float[] Return an array of bounding boxes, along with value ranges,
of inner nodes in the data structure. The bounding box is
given in object space.
For a volume with M attributes, the entries in this array
are (6+2*M)-tuples
(minX, minY, minZ, maxX, maxY, maxZ, lower_0, upper_0, lower_1, upper_1, ...).
This is in effect a low resolution representation of the
volume.
The InnerNode observer can be parametrized using
int maxDepth to control the depth at which inner nodes are
returned. Note that the observer will also return leaf nodes
or tiles at lower levels if they exist.
: Observers supported by VDB ("vdb") volumes.
VDB sampler objects support the following observers:
Name Buffer Type Description
LeafNodeAccess uint32[] This observer returns an array with as many entries as input nodes were passed. If the input node i was accessed during traversal, then the ith entry in this array has a nonzero value. This can be used for on-demand loading of leaf nodes.
: Observers supported by sampler objects created on VDB ("vdb") volumes.
VDB volumes support the filter types VKL_FILTER_NEAREST, VKL_FILTER_LINEAR,
and VKL_FILTER_CUBIC for both filter and gradientFilter.
Note that when gradientFilter is set to VKL_FILTER_NEAREST, gradients are
always
-
Open VKL implements sampling in ISPC, and can exploit wide SIMD architectures.
-
VDB volumes in Open VKL are read-only once committed, and designed for rendering only. Authoring or manipulating datasets is not in the scope of this implementation.
-
The only supported field types are
VKL_HALFandVKL_FLOATat this point. Other field types may be supported in the future. Note that multi-attribute volumes may be used to represent multi-component (e.g. vector) fields. -
The root level in Open VKL has a single node with resolution 64^3 (cp. [1]. OpenVDB uses a hash map, instead).
-
Open VKL supports four-level vdb volumes. The resolution of each level can be configured at compile time using CMake variables.
-
VKL_VDB_LOG_RESOLUTION_0sets the base 2 logarithm of the root level resolution. This variable defaults to 6, which means that the root level has a resolution of$(2^6)^3 = 64^3$ . -
VKL_VDB_LOG_RESOLUTION_1andVKL_VDB_LOG_RESOLUTION_2default to 5 and 4, respectively. This matches the default Open VDB resolution for inner levels. -
VKL_VDB_LOG_RESOLUTION_3set the base 2 logarithm of the leaf level resolution, and defaults to 3. Therefore, leaf nodes have a resolution of$8^3$ voxels. Again, this matches the Open VDB default. The default settings lead to a domain resolution of$2^18^3=262144^3$ voxels.
-
Files generated with OpenVDB can be loaded easily since Open VKL vdb volumes
implement the same leaf data layout. This means that OpenVDB leaf data pointers
can be passed to Open VKL using shared data buffers, avoiding copy operations.
An example of this can be found in
utility/vdb/include/openvkl/utility/vdb/OpenVdbGrid.h, where the class
OpenVdbFloatGrid encapsulates the necessary operations. This class is also
accessible through the vklExamples application using the -file and -field
command line arguments.
To use this example feature, compile Open VKL with OpenVDB_ROOT pointing to
the OpenVDB prefix.
- Museth, K. VDB: High-Resolution Sparse Volumes with Dynamic Topology. ACM Transactions on Graphics 32(3), 2013. DOI: 10.1145/2487228.2487235
Particle volumes consist of a set of points in space. Each point has a position, a radius, and a weight typically associated with an attribute. A radial basis function defines the contribution of that particle. Currently, we use the Gaussian radial basis function,
phi(P) = w * exp( -0.5 * ((P - p) / r)^2 )
where P is the particle position, p is the sample position, r is the radius and w is the weight.
At each sample, the scalar field value is then computed as the sum of each radial basis function phi, for each particle that overlaps it. Gradients are similarly computed, based on the summed analytical contributions of each contributing particle.
Particles with a radius less than or equal to zero are ignored. At least one valid particle (radius greater than zero) must be provided.
The Open VKL implementation is similar to direct evaluation of samples in Reda et al.[2]. It uses an Embree-built BVH with a custom traversal, similar to the method in [1].
Particle volumes are created by passing the type string "particle" to
vklNewVolume, and have the following parameters:
Type Name Default Description
vec3f[] particle.position [data] array of particle positions
float[] particle.radius [data] array of particle radii
float[] particle.weight null [data] (optional) array of particle weights, specifying the height of the kernel.
float radiusSupportFactor 3.0 The multipler of the particle radius
required for support. Larger radii
ensure smooth results at the cost of
performance. In the Gaussian kernel, the
the radius is one standard deviation
(sigma), so a radiusSupportFactor of
3 corresponds to 3*sigma.
float clampMaxCumulativeValue 0 The maximum cumulative value possible, set by user. All cumulative values will be clamped to this, and further traversal (RBF summation) of particle contributions will halt when this value is reached. A value of zero or less turns this off.
bool estimateValueRanges true Enable heuristic estimation of value
ranges which are used in internal
acceleration structures for interval and
hit iterators, as well as for
determining the volume's overall value
range. When set to false, the user
must specify
clampMaxCumulativeValue, and all value
ranges will be assumed [0,
clampMaxCumulativeValue]. Disabling
this may improve volume commit time, but
will make interval and hit iteration
less efficient.
: Configuration parameters for particle ("particle") volumes.
-
Knoll, A., Wald, I., Navratil, P., Bowen, A., Reda, K., Papka, M.E. and Gaither, K. (2014), RBF Volume Ray Casting on Multicore and Manycore CPUs. Computer Graphics Forum, 33: 71-80. doi:10.1111/cgf.12363
-
K. Reda, A. Knoll, K. Nomura, M. E. Papka, A. E. Johnson and J. Leigh, "Visualizing large-scale atomistic simulations in ultra-resolution immersive environments," 2013 IEEE Symposium on Large-Scale Data Analysis and Visualization (LDAV), Atlanta, GA, 2013, pp. 59-65.
Open VKL supports two types of temporal variation: temporally structured and temporally unstructured. When one of these modes is enabled, the volume can be sampled at different times. In both modes, time is assumed to vary between zero and one. This can be useful for implementing renderers with motion blur, for example.
Temporal variation is generally configured through a parameter temporalFormat,
which accepts constants from the VKLTemporalFormat enum, though not all
modes may be supported by all volumes. On volumes that expect multiple input
nodes, the parameter is an array node.temporalFormat, and must provide one
value per node.
Multiple attributes in a voxel share the same temporal configuration.
Please refer to the individual volume sections above to find out supported
for each volume type.
temporalFormat defaults to VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_CONSTANT for all volume
types. This means that no temporal variation is present in the data.
Temporally structured variation is configured by setting temporalFormat
to VKL_TEMPORAL_FORMAT_STRUCTURED. In this mode, the volume expects an
additional parameter [node.]temporallyStructuredNumTimesteps, which
specifies how many time steps are provided for all voxels, and must be at
least 2. A volume, or node, with
Temporally unstructured variation supports differing time step counts and
sample times per voxel.
For temporallyUnstructuredIndices is an array of temporallyUnstructuredTimes specifies the times corresponding to the sample
values; the time values for each voxel must be
between zero and one and strictly increasing:
Computing the value of a volume at an object space coordinate is done using the sampling API, and sampler objects. Sampler objects can be created using
VKLSampler vklNewSampler(VKLVolume volume);
Sampler objects may then be parametrized with traversal parameters. Available
parameters are defined by volumes, and are a subset of the volume parameters.
As an example, filter can be set on both vdb volumes and their sampler objects.
The volume parameter is used as the default for sampler objects. The
sampler object parameter provides an override per ray.
More detail on parameters can be found in the sections on volumes.
Use vklCommit() to commit parameters to the sampler object.
The scalar API takes a volume and coordinate, and returns a float value. The
volume's background value (by default VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED) is returned
for probe points outside the volume. The attribute index selects the scalar
attribute of interest; not all volumes support multiple attributes. The time
value, which must be between 0 and 1, specifies the sampling time. For
temporally constant volumes, this value has no effect.
For the cpu device, the scalar sampling API is:
float vklComputeSample(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
float time);
while on the gpu device, it is:
float vklComputeSample(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
float time,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
Note that the gpu sampling API introduces an additional featureFlags
argument. These provided "feature flags" allow Open VKL to prune unnecessary
code during just-in-time (JIT) compilation on GPU, providing potentially
significant performance gains. See section 'Feature flag usage on GPU' for
details.
On the cpu device, vector-wide and stream-wide sampling APIs are also
provided.
Vector versions allow sampling at 4, 8, or 16 positions at once. Depending on
the machine type and Open VKL device implementation, these can give greater
performance. An active lane mask valid is passed in as an array of integers;
set 0 for lanes to be ignored, -1 for active lanes. An array of time values
corresponding to each object coordinate may be provided; a NULL value
indicates all times are zero.
void vklComputeSample4(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
void vklComputeSample8(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
void vklComputeSample16(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
A stream version allows sampling an arbitrary number of positions at once. While the vector version requires coordinates to be provided in a structure-of-arrays layout, the stream version allows coordinates to be provided in an array-of-structures layout. Thus, the stream API can be used to avoid reformatting of data by the application. As with the vector versions, the stream API can give greater performance than the scalar API.
void vklComputeSampleN(const VKLSampler *sampler,
unsigned int N,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
All of the above sampling APIs can be used, regardless of the device's native SIMD width.
Open VKL provides additional APIs for sampling multiple scalar attributes in a
single call through the vklComputeSampleM*() interfaces. Beyond convenience,
these can give improved performance relative to the single attribute sampling
APIs. As with the single attribute APIs, sampling time values may be specified;
note that these are provided per object coordinate only (rather than separately
per attribute).
A scalar API supports sampling M attributes specified by attributeIndices on
a single object space coordinate:
For the cpu device, the scalar sampling API is:
void vklComputeSampleM(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
float time);
while on the gpu device, it is:
void vklComputeSampleM(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
float time,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
Again, see section 'Feature flag usage on GPU' for details on feature flags.
On the cpu device, vector-wide and stream-wide sampling APIs are also
provided.
Vector versions allow sampling at 4, 8, or 16 positions at once across the M
attributes:
void vklComputeSampleM4(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
const float *times);
void vklComputeSampleM8(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
const float *times);
void vklComputeSampleM16(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
const float *times);
The [4, 8, 16] * M sampled values are populated in the samples array in a
structure-of-arrays layout, with all values for each attribute provided in
sequence. That is, sample values s_m,n for the mth attribute and nth
object coordinate will be populated as
samples = [s_0,0, s_0,1, ..., s_0,N-1,
s_1,0, s_1,1, ..., s_1,N-1,
...,
s_M-1,0, s_M-1,1, ..., s_M-1,N-1]
A stream version allows sampling an arbitrary number of positions at once across
the M attributes. As with single attribute stream sampling, the N
coordinates are provided in an array-of-structures layout.
void vklComputeSampleMN(const VKLSampler *sampler,
unsigned int N,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
float *samples,
unsigned int M,
const unsigned int *attributeIndices,
const float *times);
The M * N sampled values are populated in the samples array in an
array-of-structures layout, with all attribute values for each coordinate
provided in sequence as
samples = [s_0,0, s_1,0, ..., s_M-1,0,
s_0,1, s_1,1, ..., s_M-1,1,
...,
s_0,N-1, s_1,N-1, ..., s_M-1,N-1]
All of the above sampling APIs can be used, regardless of the device's native SIMD width.
In a very similar API to vklComputeSample, vklComputeGradient queries the
value gradient at an object space coordinate. Again, a scalar API, now
returning a vec3f instead of a float. NaN values are returned for points outside
the volume. The time value, which must be between 0 and 1, specifies the sampling
time. For temporally constant volumes, this value has no effect.
For the cpu device, the scalar sampling API is:
vkl_vec3f vklComputeGradient(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
float time);
while on the gpu device, it is:
vkl_vec3f vklComputeGradient(const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
float time,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
As with the sampling APIs, on the cpu device vector-wide and stream-wide
gradient APIs are also provided.
The vector versions are:
void vklComputeGradient4(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *objectCoordinates,
vkl_vvec3f4 *gradients,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
void vklComputeGradient8(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *objectCoordinates,
vkl_vvec3f8 *gradients,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
void vklComputeGradient16(const int *valid,
const VKLSampler *sampler,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *objectCoordinates,
vkl_vvec3f16 *gradients,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
Finally, a stream version is provided:
void vklComputeGradientN(const VKLSampler *sampler,
unsigned int N,
const vkl_vec3f *objectCoordinates,
vkl_vec3f *gradients,
unsigned int attributeIndex,
const float *times);
All of the above gradient APIs can be used, regardless of the device's native SIMD width.
Open VKL has APIs to search for particular volume values along a ray. Queries
can be for ranges of volume values (vklIterateInterval) or for particular
values (vklIterateHit).
Interval iterators require a context object to define the sampler and parameters related to iteration behavior. An interval iterator context is created via
VKLIntervalIteratorContext vklNewIntervalIteratorContext(VKLSampler sampler);
The parameters understood by interval iterator contexts are defined in the table below.
Type Name Default Description
int attributeIndex 0 Defines the volume attribute of interest.
vkl_range1f[] valueRanges [-inf, inf] Defines the value ranges of interest. Intervals not containing any of these values ranges may be skipped during iteration.
float intervalResolutionHint 0.5 A value in the range [0, 1] affecting the resolution (size) of returned intervals. A value of 0 yields the lowest resolution (largest) intervals while 1 gives the highest resolution (smallest) intervals. This value is only a hint; it may not impact behavior for all volume types.
: Configuration parameters for interval iterator contexts.
Most volume types support the intervalResolutionHint parameter that can impact
the size of intervals returned duration iteration. These include amr,
particle, structuredRegular, unstructured, and vdb volumes. In all cases
a value of 1.0 yields the highest resolution (smallest) intervals possible,
while a value of 0.0 gives the lowest resolution (largest) intervals. In
general, smaller intervals will have tighter bounds on value ranges, and more
efficient space skipping behavior than larger intervals, which can be beneficial
for some rendering methods.
For structuredRegular, unstructured, and vdb volumes, a value of 1.0 will
enable elementary cell iteration, such that each interval spans an individual
voxel / cell intersection. Note that interval iteration can be significantly
slower in this case.
As with other objects, the interval iterator context must be committed before being used.
To query an interval, a VKLIntervalIterator of scalar or vector width must be
initialized with vklInitIntervalIterator. Time value(s) may be provided to
specify the sampling time. These values must be between 0 and 1; for the vector
versions, a NULL value indicates all times are zero. For temporally constant
volumes, the time values have no effect.
On a gpu device, interval iterators may be initialized via:
VKLIntervalIterator vklInitIntervalIterator(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context,
const vkl_vec3f *origin,
const vkl_vec3f *direction,
const vkl_range1f *tRange,
float time,
void *buffer,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
Note again the featureFlags argument; see section 'Feature flag usage on GPU`
for details.
On a cpu device, interval iterators can be initialized via:
VKLIntervalIterator vklInitIntervalIterator(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context,
const vkl_vec3f *origin,
const vkl_vec3f *direction,
const vkl_range1f *tRange,
float time,
void *buffer);
VKLIntervalIterator4 vklInitIntervalIterator4(const int *valid,
const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f4 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
VKLIntervalIterator8 vklInitIntervalIterator8(const int *valid,
const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f8 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
VKLIntervalIterator16 vklInitIntervalIterator16(const int *valid,
const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f16 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
Open VKL places the iterator struct into a user-provided buffer, and the returned handle is essentially a pointer into this buffer. This means that the iterator handle must not be used after the buffer ceases to exist. Copying iterator buffers is currently not supported.
The required size, in bytes, of the buffer can be queried with
size_t vklGetIntervalIteratorSize(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context);
size_t vklGetIntervalIteratorSize4(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context);
size_t vklGetIntervalIteratorSize8(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context);
size_t vklGetIntervalIteratorSize16(const VKLIntervalIteratorContext *context);
The values these functions return may change depending on the parameters set
on sampler.
Open VKL also provides a conservative maximum size over all volume types as a
preprocessor definition (VKL_MAX_INTERVAL_ITERATOR_SIZE). For ISPC use cases,
Open VKL will attempt to detect the native vector width using TARGET_WIDTH,
which is defined in recent versions of ISPC, to provide a less conservative
size.
Intervals can then be processed by calling vklIterateInterval as long as the
returned lane masks indicates that the iterator is still within the volume.
On a gpu device this is done via:
int vklIterateInterval(VKLIntervalIterator iterator,
VKLInterval *interval,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
while on a cpu device, iteration is via:
int vklIterateInterval(VKLIntervalIterator iterator,
VKLInterval *interval);
void vklIterateInterval4(const int *valid,
VKLIntervalIterator4 iterator,
VKLInterval4 *interval,
int *result);
void vklIterateInterval8(const int *valid,
VKLIntervalIterator8 iterator,
VKLInterval8 *interval,
int *result);
void vklIterateInterval16(const int *valid,
VKLIntervalIterator16 iterator,
VKLInterval16 *interval,
int *result);
The intervals returned have a t-value range, a value range, and a
nominalDeltaT which is approximately the step size (in units of ray direction)
that should be used to walk through the interval, if desired. The number and
length of intervals returned is volume type implementation dependent. There is
currently no way of requesting a particular splitting.
typedef struct
{
vkl_range1f tRange;
vkl_range1f valueRange;
float nominalDeltaT;
} VKLInterval;
typedef struct
{
vkl_vrange1f4 tRange;
vkl_vrange1f4 valueRange;
float nominalDeltaT[4];
} VKLInterval4;
typedef struct
{
vkl_vrange1f8 tRange;
vkl_vrange1f8 valueRange;
float nominalDeltaT[8];
} VKLInterval8;
typedef struct
{
vkl_vrange1f16 tRange;
vkl_vrange1f16 valueRange;
float nominalDeltaT[16];
} VKLInterval16;
Querying for particular values is done using a VKLHitIterator in much the same
fashion. This API could be used, for example, to find isosurfaces. As with
interval iterators, time value(s) may be provided to specify the sampling time.
These values must be between 0 and 1; for the vector versions, a NULL value
indicates all times are zero. For temporally constant volumes, the time values
have no effect.
Hit iterators similarly require a context object to define the sampler and other iteration parameters. A hit iterator context is created via
VKLHitIteratorContext vklNewHitIteratorContext(VKLSampler sampler);
The parameters understood by hit iterator contexts are defined in the table below.
Type Name Default Description
int attributeIndex 0 Defines the volume attribute of interest.
float[] values Defines the value(s) of interest.
: Configuration parameters for hit iterator contexts.
The hit iterator context must be committed before being used.
Again, a user allocated buffer must be provided, and a VKLHitIterator of the
desired width must be initialized.
On a gpu device this is done via:
VKLHitIterator vklInitHitIterator(VKLHitIteratorContext context,
const vkl_vec3f *origin,
const vkl_vec3f *direction,
const vkl_range1f *tRange,
float time,
void *buffer,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
while on a cpu device initialization is via:
VKLHitIterator vklInitHitIterator(VKLHitIteratorContext context,
const vkl_vec3f *origin,
const vkl_vec3f *direction,
const vkl_range1f *tRange,
float time,
void *buffer);
VKLHitIterator4 vklInitHitIterator4(const int *valid,
VKLHitIteratorContext context,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f4 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f4 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
VKLHitIterator8 vklInitHitIterator8(const int *valid,
VKLHitIteratorContext context,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f8 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f8 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
VKLHitIterator16 vklInitHitIterator16(const int *valid,
VKLHitIteratorContext context,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *origin,
const vkl_vvec3f16 *direction,
const vkl_vrange1f16 *tRange,
const float *times,
void *buffer);
Buffer size can be queried with
size_t vklGetHitIteratorSize(VKLHitIteratorContext context);
size_t vklGetHitIteratorSize4(VKLHitIteratorContext context);
size_t vklGetHitIteratorSize8(VKLHitIteratorContext context);
size_t vklGetHitIteratorSize16(VKLHitIteratorContext context);
Open VKL also provides the macro VKL_MAX_HIT_ITERATOR_SIZE as a conservative
estimate.
Hits are then queried by looping a call to vklIterateHit as long as the
returned lane mask indicates that the iterator is still within the volume.
On a gpu device, this is done via:
int vklIterateHit(VKLHitIterator iterator,
VKLHit *hit,
const VKLFeatureFlags featureFlags);
while on a cpu device, the APIs are:
int vklIterateHit(VKLHitIterator iterator, VKLHit *hit);
void vklIterateHit4(const int *valid,
VKLHitIterator4 iterator,
VKLHit4 *hit,
int *result);
void vklIterateHit8(const int *valid,
VKLHitIterator8 iterator,
VKLHit8 *hit,
int *result);
void vklIterateHit16(const int *valid,
VKLHitIterator16 iterator,
VKLHit16 *hit,
int *result);
Returned hits consist of a t-value, a volume value (equal to one of the requested values specified in the context), and an (object space) epsilon value estimating the error of the intersection:
typedef struct
{
float t;
float sample;
float epsilon;
} VKLHit;
typedef struct
{
float t[4];
float sample[4];
float epsilon[4];
} VKLHit4;
typedef struct
{
float t[8];
float sample[8];
float epsilon[8];
} VKLHit8;
typedef struct
{
float t[16];
float sample[16];
float epsilon[16];
} VKLHit16;
For both interval and hit iterators, only the vector-wide API for the native
SIMD width (determined via vklGetNativeSIMDWidth can be called. The scalar
versions are always valid. This restriction will likely be lifted in the future.
Volumes and samplers in Open VKL may provide observers to communicate data back
to the application. Please note that observers are currently only allowed for
the cpu device. Observers may be created with
VKLObserver vklNewSamplerObserver(VKLSampler sampler,
const char *type);
VKLObserver vklNewVolumeObserver(VKLVolume volume,
const char *type);
The object passed to vklNew*Observer must already be committed. Valid
observer type strings are defined by volume implementations (see section
'Volume types' below).
vklNew*Observer returns NULL on failure.
To access the underlying data, an observer must first be mapped using
const void * vklMapObserver(VKLObserver observer);
If this fails, the function returns NULL. vklMapObserver may fail on
observers that are already mapped.
On success, the application may query the underlying type, element size in
bytes, and the number of elements in the buffer using
VKLDataType vklGetObserverElementType(VKLObserver observer);
size_t vklGetObserverElementSize(VKLObserver observer);
size_t vklGetObserverNumElements(VKLObserver observer);
On failure, these functions return VKL_UNKNOWN and 0, respectively.
Possible data types are defined by the volume that provides the observer , as
are the semantics of the observation. See section 'Volume types' for details.
The pointer returned by vklMapObserver may be cast to the type corresponding
to the value returned by vklGetObserverElementType to access the observation.
For example, if vklGetObserverElementType returns VKL_FLOAT, then
the pointer returned by vklMapObserver may be cast to const float * to access
up to vklGetObserverNumElements consecutive values of type float.
Once the application has finished processing the observation, it should unmap the observer using
void vklUnmapObserver(VKLObserver observer);
so that the observer may be mapped again.
When an observer is no longer needed, it should be released using vklRelease.
The observer API is not thread safe, and these functions should not be called concurrently on the same object.
Feature flags are used extensively throughout the device-side APIs defined by
the gpu device. These flags identify the required feature set for a given
volume and sampler, and are used internally by Open VKL to prune unnecessary
code during just-in-time (JIT) compilation on the GPU. Thus, using feature flags
can provide a significant performance gain on GPU, both for the one-time JIT
compilation time and of course for kernel execution times.
Feature flags must be populated separately for each VKLSampler used in an
application, via:
VKLFeatureFlags vklGetFeatureFlags(VKLSampler sampler);
The resulting VKLFeatureFlags can be passed to sampling, gradient, interval
iterator, and hit iterator APIs.
It is strongly recommended to have the Flush to Zero and Denormals are Zero
mode of the MXCSR control and status register enabled for each thread before
calling the sampling, gradient, or interval API functions. Otherwise, under some
circumstances special handling of denormalized floating point numbers can
significantly reduce application and Open VKL performance. The device parameter
flushDenormals or environment variable OPENVKL_FLUSH_DENORMALS can be used
to toggle this mode; by default it is enabled. Alternatively, when using Open
VKL together with the Intel® Threading Building Blocks, it is sufficient to
execute the following code at the beginning of the application main thread
(before the creation of the tbb::task_scheduler_init object):
#include <xmmintrin.h>
#include <pmmintrin.h>
...
_MM_SET_FLUSH_ZERO_MODE(_MM_FLUSH_ZERO_ON);
_MM_SET_DENORMALS_ZERO_MODE(_MM_DENORMALS_ZERO_ON);
If using a different tasking system, make sure each thread calling into Open VKL has the proper mode set.
vklInitIntervalIterator and vklInitHitIterator expect a user allocated
buffer. While this buffer can be allocated by any means, we expect iterators
to be used in inner loops and advise against heap allocation in that case.
Applications may provide high performance memory pools, but as a preferred
alternative we recommend stack allocated buffers.
In C99, variable length arrays provide an easy way to achieve this:
const size_t bufferSize = vklGetIntervalIteratorSize(context);
char buffer[bufferSize];
Note that the call to vklGetIntervalIteratorSize or vklGetHitIteratorSize
should not appear in an inner loop as it is relatively costly. The return value
depends on the volume type, target architecture, and parameters to context.
In C++, variable length arrays are not part of the standard. Here, users may
rely on alloca and similar functions:
#include <alloca.h>
const size_t bufferSize = vklGetIntervalIteratorSize(context);
void *buffer = alloca(bufferSize);
Similarly for ISPC, variable length arrays are not supported, but alloca may
be used:
const uniform size_t bufferSize = vklGetIntervalIteratorSizeV(context);
void *uniform buffer = alloca(bufferSize);
Users should understand the implications of alloca. In particular,
alloca does check available stack space and may result in stack overflow.
buffer also becomes invalid at the end of the scope. As one consequence, it
cannot be returned from a function.
On Windows, _malloca is a safer option that performs additional error
checking, but requires the use of _freea.
Applications may instead rely on the VKL_MAX_INTERVAL_ITERATOR_SIZE and
VKL_MAX_HIT_ITERATOR_SIZE macros. For example, in ISPC:
uniform unsigned int8 buffer[VKL_MAX_INTERVAL_ITERATOR_SIZE];
These values are majorants over all devices and volume types. Note that Open VKL
attempts to detect the target SIMD width using TARGET_WIDTH, returning smaller
buffer sizes for narrow architectures. However, Open VKL may fall back to the
largest buffer size over all targets.
Open VKL provides flexible managed data APIs that allow applications to specify
input data in various formats and layouts. When shared buffers are used
(dataCreationFlags = VKL_DATA_SHARED_BUFFER), Open VKL will use the
application-owned memory directly, respecting the input data layout. Shared
buffers therefore allow applications to strategically select the best layout for
multi-attribute volume data and expected sampling behavior.
For volume attributes that are sampled individually (e.g. using
vklComputeSample[4,8,16,N]()), it is recommended to use a structure-of-arrays
layout. That is, each attribute's data should be compact in contiguous memory.
This can be accomplished by simply using Open VKL owned data objects
(dataCreationFlags = VKL_DATA_DEFAULT), or by using a natural byteStride for
shared buffers.
For volume attributes that are sampled simultaneously (e.g. using
vklComputeSampleM[4,8,16,N]()), it is recommended to use an
array-of-structures layout. That is, data for these attributes should be
provided per voxel in a contiguous layout. This is accomplished using shared
buffers for each attribute with appropriate byte strides. For example, for a
three attribute structured volume representing a velocity field, the data can be
provided as:
// used in Open VKL shared buffers, so must not be freed by application
std::vector<vkl_vec3f> velocities(numVoxels);
for (auto &v : velocities) {
v.x = ...;
v.y = ...;
v.z = ...;
}
std::vector<VKLData> attributes;
attributes.push_back(vklNewData(device,
velocities.size(),
VKL_FLOAT,
&velocities[0].x,
VKL_DATA_SHARED_BUFFER,
sizeof(vkl_vec3f)));
attributes.push_back(vklNewData(device,
velocities.size(),
VKL_FLOAT,
&velocities[0].y,
VKL_DATA_SHARED_BUFFER,
sizeof(vkl_vec3f)));
attributes.push_back(vklNewData(device,
velocities.size(),
VKL_FLOAT,
&velocities[0].z,
VKL_DATA_SHARED_BUFFER,
sizeof(vkl_vec3f)));
VKLData attributesData =
vklNewData(device, attributes.size(), VKL_DATA, attributes.data());
for (auto &attribute : attributes)
vklRelease(attribute);
VKLVolume volume = vklNewVolume(device, "structuredRegular");
vklSetData(volume, "data", attributesData);
vklRelease(attributesData);
// set other volume parameters...
vklCommit(volume);
These are general recommendations for common scenarios; it is still recommended to evaluate performance of different volume data layouts for your application's particular use case.