UberFlow: A GPU-Based Particle Engine

Overview

This paper presents a system for real-time animation and rendering of large particle sets using GPU computation and memory objects in OpenGL. Memory objects can be used both as containers for geometry data stored on the graphics card and as render targets, providing an effective means for the manipulation and rendering of particle data on the GPU. To fully take advantage of this mechanism, efficient GPU realizations of algorithms used to perform particle manipulation are essential. The system implements a versatile particle engine, including inter-particle collisions and visibility sorting. By combining memory objects with floating-point fragment programs, the paper has implemented a particle engine that entirely avoids the transfer of particle data at run-time.