Ray tracing point set surfaces

Point set surfaces (PSS) are a smooth manifold surface approximation from a set of sample points. The surface definition is based on a projection operation that constructs local polynomial approximations and respects a minimum feature size. We present techniques for ray tracing PSSs. For the computation of ray-surface intersection the properties of the projection operation are exploited. The surface is enclosed by a union of minimum feature size spheres. A ray is intersected with the spheres first and inside the spheres with local polynomial approximations. Our results show that 2-3 projections are sufficient to accurately intersect a ray with the surface.