Variable Bit Rate GPU Texture Decompression

dc.contributor.authorOlano, Marcen_US
dc.contributor.authorBaker, Danen_US
dc.contributor.authorGriffin, Wesleyen_US
dc.contributor.authorBarczak, Joshuaen_US
dc.contributor.editorRavi Ramamoorthi and Erik Reinharden_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-27T14:45:40Z
dc.date.available2015-02-27T14:45:40Z
dc.date.issued2011en_US
dc.description.abstractVariable bit rate compression can achieve better quality and compression rates than fixed bit rate methods. None the less, GPU texturing uses lossy fixed bit rate methods like DXT to allow random access and on-the-fly decompression during rendering. Changes in games and GPUs since DXT was developed make its compression artifacts less acceptable, and texture bandwidth less of an issue, but texture size is a serious and growing problem. Games use a large total volume of texture data, but have a much smaller active set. We present a new paradigm that separates GPU decompression from rendering. Rendering is from uncompressed data, avoiding the need for random access decompression. We demonstrate this paradigm with a new variable bit rate lossy texture compression algorithm that is well suited to the GPU, including a new GPU-friendly formulation of range decoding, and a new texture compression scheme averaging 12.4:1 lossy compression ratio on 471 real game textures with a quality level similar to traditional DXT compression. The total game texture set are stored in the GPU in compressed form, and decompressed for use in a fraction of a second per scene.en_US
dc.description.seriesinformationComputer Graphics Forumen_US
dc.identifier.issn1467-8659en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8659.2011.01989.xen_US
dc.publisherThe Eurographics Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.en_US
dc.titleVariable Bit Rate GPU Texture Decompressionen_US
Files