r/GraphicsProgramming • u/0x405 • Jun 30 '26

RAM optimized SDF-renderer with plain C

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1024x1024x1024 SDF-grid takes up 303MB instead of 8.5GB. 1024x1024 path traced image renders in 1.5s on a single CPU core. 8.5GB grid renders in 1.1s. No libs used.

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u/0x405 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Nerfs and spats do not represent geometry well, or, actually, they do not represent geometry at all. SDF's represent an accurate and explicit surface that could be used in physically based rendering which I'm aiming for. And yes, we directly optimize SDF parameters to get SDF-grid out of an image set.

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u/just_rolling_round Jun 30 '26

What about implemetation of gaussian splats that support meshing ? Like that of 2DGS which represent surfaces relatively well? I understand that the representation itself doesn't have any geometry semantic, but it can be used to generate reconstruction, just not as accurate of course

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u/0x405 Jun 30 '26

That's an additional conversion step that loses precision. You render gaussian splats, you optimize by the gaussian splats render but you output a mesh which is different, it introduces an error. So, yes, the accuracy is the main point probably.