Hybrid Cloud Rendering System for Massive CAD Models

Abstract

The recent advances in cloud services enable an increasing number of applications to offload their intensive tasks to remote computers. Cloud rendering comprises a set of services capable of rendering a 3D scene on a remote workstation. Notable progress in this field has been made by cloud gaming services. However, a gap remains between existing cloud rendering systems and other graphics-intensive applications, such as visualization of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models. Existing cloud gaming services are not suitable to efficiently render these particular 3D scenes. CAD models contain many more objects than a regular game scene, requiring specific assumptions and optimizations to deliver an interactive user experience. In this work, we discuss and propose a novel hybrid cloud rendering system for massive 3D CAD models of industrial plants. The obtained results show that our technique can achieve high frame rates with satisfactory image quality even in a constrained environment, such as a high latency network or obsolete computer hardware.