83 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
<br />
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<p align="center">
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<h1 align="center">CUDA-based Raycaster</h1>
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<p align="center">
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This project implements a raycaster on nvidia GPUs, visualizing wind patterns through the use of silhouette shading
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</p> ## Table of Contents
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* [About the Project](#about)
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* [Dependencies](#dependencies)
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* [Installation](#installation)
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* [Running](#running)
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* [Screenshots](#screenshots)
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* [Modules](#modules)
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## About
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This project was developed as part of the course Geo-Visualization at the University of Groningen.
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It contains a CUDA-based raycaster which visualizes wind patterns using a silhouette shading.
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The program also includes various configuration options, which can be set as the program runs (see [Screenshots](#screenshots)).
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The program expects to use the MERRA2 dataset, which can be found [here](https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets/M2I6NPANA_5.12.4/summary?keywords=M2I6NPANA_5.12.4).
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## Dependencies
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The project depends on a few libraries.
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Below is a list of these along with versions that _will_ work.
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Newer/older versions of the libraries may also compile and run properly, but this has not been tested.
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* OpenGL[^1] Tested using the Mesa (1:24.3.3-2) driver.
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* glfw3 (3.4-2)
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* Cuda (12.6.3-1)
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* Netcdf (4.9.2-6)
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* Netcdf-cxx (4.3.1-4)
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* Dear ImGUI (submodule within repository)
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## Installation
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Once all libraries are installed compiling the program is quite straightforward. First, initialize the Dear ImGUI submodule:
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```bash
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git submodule update --init
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```
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Then compile using CMake:
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```bash
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mkdir build
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cd build
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cmake ..
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make
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./cuda-raytracer
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```
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Make sure the program is executed on the nvidia GPU, or it will crash on startup.
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For example, on Arch the command `prime-run ./cuda-raytracer` would make sure the program utilizes the GPU.
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## Running
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### A note on data loading
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In order to run properly, the program expects to find a number of `.nc4` files in a directory relative to the executable. Specifically, the data should consist of a number of `.nc4` files from the MERRA2 dataset, located in the `./data/trimmed/` folder.
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For best results - that is, to ensure no crashes during runtime - this folder should contain a full year of data.
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The program loads a specific data file based on index, meaning the files should be named in alphabetical order.
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For example, using the date of the file in question is a good way of ensuring this:
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* MERRA2_400.inst6_3d_ana_Np.20120101.nc4
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* MERRA2_400.inst6_3d_ana_Np.20120102.nc4
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* MERRA2_400.inst6_3d_ana_Np.20120103.nc4
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* MERRA2_400.inst6_3d_ana_Np.20120104.nc4
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### Actual execution
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Once the data is in place, the program may be executed as normal - again make sure to run this on an NVidia GPU.
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<!-- ## Screenshots -->
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<!-- TODO: add cool screenshots -->
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<!-- ## Modules -->
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<!-- TODO: talk about program design a little -->
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