Kitware and Intel Combine Expertise to Advance Proven Software Solutions
Clifton Park, NY (PRWEB) November 12, 2015 -- With SC15 rapidly approaching, Kitware is pleased to announce its collaboration with Intel to integrate two open-source rendering libraries into the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) and ParaView: OpenSWR to rasterize images and OSPRay to ray trace images. The integration will make OpenSWR and OSPRay more accessible to VTK and ParaView users, amplifying their capacity to interactively visualize Big Data on supercomputers without employing graphics processing units (GPUs).
“OpenSWR and OSPRay will benefit VTK and ParaView users by reducing costs and memory constraints while increasing parallel rendering performance and fidelity,” said Dave DeMarle, who is leading the integration effort at Kitware. “In our tests, we found OpenSWR to be competitive with GPU rendering on moderate and larger sized meshes.”
The integration of OpenSWR and OSPRay into VTK and ParaView will allow users to easily switch between image rasterization and ray-tracing processes to maximize results. OpenSWR is a software rasterization engine optimized on Intel processors, making it fast enough to be suitable for rendering extraordinarily large data sets in VTK and ParaView. Also optimized for Intel processors, OSPRay enhances the quality of rendered images and provides VTK and ParaView users with unprecedented capabilities. Realistic yet still interactive illumination models, for example, enable users to simultaneously recognize small- and large-scale properties in their data.
“One of our top priorities since launching this initiative has been to ensure that ParaView and VTK users can make optimal use of the Intel supported Software Defined Visualization open-source projects (http://www.sdvis.org), providing new levels of interactivity and higher fidelity visualization for large-scale data. Kitware has been a fantastic partner, as we’ve worked together to integrate and deliver these new software-rendering technologies, enabling more flexible and rapid methods to drive new scientific insights,” said Jim Jeffers, Principal Engineer and Manager for Intel’s HPC Visualization team.
The next release of ParaView, version 5.0, will introduce binaries that include OpenSWR and OSPRay. The libraries will also be tightly integrated into VTK’s rendering backend. The integration effort is just one push to modernize VTK’s rendering capabilities. In 2014, Kitware began rewriting the majority of VTK’s rendering code. As part of the rewrite, Kitware introduced a new rendering engine, which was made available in VTK 6.2. The new engine significantly enhances rendering speed and memory utilization, with improvements to volume rendering performance reaching 300 percent. To further modernize VTK, Kitware has been working with Intel to support the toolkit’s efficient use of central processing units (CPUs) and CPU coprocessors such as Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor.
“Modernizing visualization tools like ParaView and VTK to better leverage the compute resources in multicore Intel® Xeon® processors and many-core Intel® Xeon Phi™ products, both of which utilize the same source code and programming models, will provide the foundation for the performance and features needed to meet future visualization requirements, which are being driven by an exponential growth in data as we move toward ExaScale computing,” Intel’s Jeffers said.
VTK is an open-source, freely available software system for three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics, modeling, image processing, volume rendering, scientific visualization, and information visualization. It provides the basis for data processing and rendering capabilities for many advanced visualization applications, such as ParaView. ParaView was developed to analyze extremely large data sets using distributed memory computing resources. Its flexibility allows developers to tailor functionality to specific problem domains. For information on leveraging VTK and ParaView, please stop by Kitware’s booth (#2639) at SC15, or email kitware(at)Kitware(dot)com.
About Kitware
Kitware is an advanced technology, research, and open-source solutions provider for research facilities, government institutions, and corporations worldwide. Founded in 1998, Kitware specializes in research and development in the areas of HPC and visualization, medical imaging, computer vision, data and analytics, and quality software process. Among its services, Kitware offers consulting and support for high-quality software solutions. Kitware is headquartered in Clifton Park, NY, with offices in Carrboro, NC; Santa Fe, NM; and Lyon, France. More information can be found on http://www.kitware.com.
Sandy McKenzie, Communications Specialist, http://www.kitware.com, +1 (518) 8814407, [email protected]
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