CSG Ray Tracing Revisited: Interactive Rendering of Massive Models Made of Non-planar Higher Order Primitives

In many scientific and engineering areas, CAD models are constructed by combining simple primitives using Boolean set operations. Rendering such a dataset usually requires a preprocess, where the surface of the CAD model is approximated by an often highly complex triangle mesh. Real-time ray tracing provides an alternative to triangle rasterization as it allows for the direct visualization of (higher-order) solid and planar primitives without having to triangulate them. Additionally, Boolean compositing operations can be performed implicitly per ray. primitives have low storage requirements, and curved surfaces appear pixel-accurate. In this paper we demonstrate these properties using massive real-world CAD models.