Bikker, J.Holly Rushmeier and Oliver Deussen2015-02-282015-02-2820121467-8659https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8659.2012.03073.xIn this paper, we investigate the efficiency of ray queries on the CPU in the context of path tracing, where ray distributions are mostly random. We show that existing schemes that exploit data locality to improve ray tracing efficiency fail to do so beyond the first diffuse bounce, and analyze the cause for this. We then present an alternative scheme inspired by the work of Pharr et al. in which we improve data locality by using a data‐centric breadth‐first approach. We show that our scheme improves on state‐of‐the‐art performance for ray distributions in a path tracer.In this paper, we investigate the efficiency of ray queries on the CPU in the context of path tracing, where ray distributions are mostly random. We show that existing schemes that exploit data locality to improve ray tracing efficiency fail to do so beyond the first diffuse bounce, and analyze the cause for this.We then present an alternative scheme inspired by the work of Pharr et al. in which we improve data locality by using a data‐centric breadth‐first approach.We show that our scheme improves on state‐of‐the‐art performance for ray distributions in a path tracer.10.1111/j.1467-8659.2012.03073.x