Lego brick approximation of 3D models on a GPU using openCL

• Main Author: Guillergan, Paul Jonathan D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: LEGO toys > Computer-aided design; Three-dimensional modeling; OpenCL (Computer program language)
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4303
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research improved the execution time of the Lego brick approximation system implemented by (Bautista, 2007) using the Graphic Processing Units (GPU) parallel cores. The system is a variation of a Lego CAD (computer aided design) which is used in virtual Lego model design before it is tediously created by hand using actual Lego parts. It works by reading a 3D mesh model and automatically converts it to a 3D Lego model which is made up of Lego bricks. The algorithms used in the system runs in a sequential manner which can be time consuming when producing complex high-resolution Lego models. A new algorithm was developed called Triangle Mesh Shell Voxelization for parallel execution to replace one of the main processes of the system. The new Voxelization algorithm was designed such that it can be ported easily from sequential to parallel. The proponent used collision detection techniques in computer graphics to achieve portability. The parallel implementation was done using OpenCL which has a heterogeneous framework that enables computation on different processing units such as the GPU. Based on our experimental results we achieved a speedup of up to 5x from a CPU-only to a CPU+GPU implementation.