Ray - Octree intersection algorithms

The top-down works very well for me; the upper part of octree may be pointer based so big empty sub-volumes do not take memory; the lower part is more efficient to implement pointer-free... The time complexity to hit the wall is log2(N) (it's apparently the best case). The recursive implementation is quite simple so it is easier to optimize the code. All math can be effectively implemented via integer SSE operations - it takes around x30 CPU cycles to compute the new XYZ coordinates for every sub-volume jump. BTW, the public versions of octree traversals are good only for education - to master truly effective implementation may easily take several months...

Stefan

For the record, this is my implementation of the Revelles paper I ended up using:

#include "octree_traversal.h"

using namespace std;

unsigned char a; // because an unsigned char is 8 bits

int first_node(double tx0, double ty0, double tz0, double txm, double tym, double tzm){
unsigned char answer = 0;   // initialize to 00000000
// select the entry plane and set bits
if(tx0 > ty0){
    if(tx0 > tz0){ // PLANE YZ
        if(tym < tx0) answer|=2;    // set bit at position 1
        if(tzm < tx0) answer|=1;    // set bit at position 0
        return (int) answer;
    }
}
else {
    if(ty0 > tz0){ // PLANE XZ
        if(txm < ty0) answer|=4;    // set bit at position 2
        if(tzm < ty0) answer|=1;    // set bit at position 0
        return (int) answer;
    }
}
// PLANE XY
if(txm < tz0) answer|=4;    // set bit at position 2
if(tym < tz0) answer|=2;    // set bit at position 1
return (int) answer;
}

int new_node(double txm, int x, double tym, int y, double tzm, int z){
if(txm < tym){
    if(txm < tzm){return x;}  // YZ plane
}
else{
    if(tym < tzm){return y;} // XZ plane
}
return z; // XY plane;
}

void proc_subtree (double tx0, double ty0, double tz0, double tx1, double ty1, double tz1, Node* node){
float txm, tym, tzm;
int currNode;

if(tx1 < 0 || ty1 < 0 || tz1 < 0) return;
if(node->terminal){
    cout << "Reached leaf node " << node->debug_ID << endl;
    return;
}
else{ cout << "Reached node " << node->debug_ID << endl;}

txm = 0.5*(tx0 + tx1);
tym = 0.5*(ty0 + ty1);
tzm = 0.5*(tz0 + tz1);

currNode = first_node(tx0,ty0,tz0,txm,tym,tzm);
do{
    switch (currNode)
    {
    case 0: { 
        proc_subtree(tx0,ty0,tz0,txm,tym,tzm,node->children[a]);
        currNode = new_node(txm,4,tym,2,tzm,1);
        break;}
    case 1: { 
        proc_subtree(tx0,ty0,tzm,txm,tym,tz1,node->children[1^a]);
        currNode = new_node(txm,5,tym,3,tz1,8);
        break;}
    case 2: { 
        proc_subtree(tx0,tym,tz0,txm,ty1,tzm,node->children[2^a]);
        currNode = new_node(txm,6,ty1,8,tzm,3);
        break;}
    case 3: { 
        proc_subtree(tx0,tym,tzm,txm,ty1,tz1,node->children[3^a]);
        currNode = new_node(txm,7,ty1,8,tz1,8);
        break;}
    case 4: { 
        proc_subtree(txm,ty0,tz0,tx1,tym,tzm,node->children[4^a]);
        currNode = new_node(tx1,8,tym,6,tzm,5);
        break;}
    case 5: { 
        proc_subtree(txm,ty0,tzm,tx1,tym,tz1,node->children[5^a]);
        currNode = new_node(tx1,8,tym,7,tz1,8);
        break;}
    case 6: { 
        proc_subtree(txm,tym,tz0,tx1,ty1,tzm,node->children[6^a]);
        currNode = new_node(tx1,8,ty1,8,tzm,7);
        break;}
    case 7: { 
        proc_subtree(txm,tym,tzm,tx1,ty1,tz1,node->children[7^a]);
        currNode = 8;
        break;}
    }
} while (currNode<8);
}

void ray_octree_traversal(Octree* octree, Ray ray){
a = 0;

// fixes for rays with negative direction
if(ray.direction[0] < 0){
    ray.origin[0] = octree->center[0] * 2 - ray.origin[0];//camera origin fix
    ray.direction[0] = - ray.direction[0];
    a |= 4 ; //bitwise OR (latest bits are XYZ)
}
if(ray.direction[1] < 0){
    ray.origin[1] = octree->center[1] * 2 - ray.origin[1];
    ray.direction[1] = - ray.direction[1];
    a |= 2 ; 
}
if(ray.direction[2] < 0){
    ray.origin[2] = octree->center[2] * 2 - ray.origin[2];
    ray.direction[2] = - ray.direction[2];
    a |= 1 ; 
}

double divx = 1 / ray.direction[0]; // IEEE stability fix
double divy = 1 / ray.direction[1];
double divz = 1 / ray.direction[2];

double tx0 = (octree->min[0] - ray.origin[0]) * divx;
double tx1 = (octree->max[0] - ray.origin[0]) * divx;
double ty0 = (octree->min[1] - ray.origin[1]) * divy;
double ty1 = (octree->max[1] - ray.origin[1]) * divy;
double tz0 = (octree->min[2] - ray.origin[2]) * divz;
double tz1 = (octree->max[2] - ray.origin[2]) * divz;

if( max(max(tx0,ty0),tz0) < min(min(tx1,ty1),tz1) ){
    proc_subtree(tx0,ty0,tz0,tx1,ty1,tz1,octree->root);
}
}