Open VKL v2.0.1

• Removed ISPC runtime dependency and level zero loader requirement
• Add DEPENDENTLOADFLAG linker parameter for Windows binaries, restricting DLL loading behavior
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies

Open VKL v2.0.0

• This Open VKL release adds support for Intel® Arc™ GPUs, Intel® Data Center
  GPU Flex Series and Intel® Data Center GPU Max Series through SYCL.
  • The SYCL support of Open VKL is in beta phase. Current functionality,
    quality, and GPU performance may not reflect that of the final product.
  • Open VKL CPU support in this release remains at Gold level,
    incorporating the same quality and performance as previous releases.
• API changes:
  • Handle types are now passed by pointer in the following APIs:
    • vklComputeSample*()
    • vklComputeGradient*()
    • vklGet*IteratorSize*()
    • vklInit*Iterator*()
    • vklIterate*()
  • vklLoadModule() has been removed; compile-time linkage to an Open VKL
    device implementation (cpu or gpu) is now required
  • Added vklInit() API, which must be called to initialize the library
  • VKL_FILTER_[TRILINEAR,TRICUBIC] are renamed to
    VKL_FILTER_[LINEAR,CUBIC]
  • VKLAMRMethod enum is now uint32_t
  • structuredSpherical volumes: the gridSpacing default now results in
    the volume occupying a full sphere
• Added new examples demonstrating GPU usage: vklExamplesGPU and
  vklTutorialGPU
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies

Open VKL v1.3.2

• Move to and require latest versions of RenderKit dependencies: Embree v4.0.0 and rkcommon v1.11.0
• ARM support: expose ISPC neon-i32x8 target via OPENVKL_ISA_NEON2X CMake option
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies

Open VKL v1.3.1

• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies
• Note that the update to zlib v1.2.13 remedies CVE-2022-37434

Open VKL v1.3.0

• Added AVX512 8-wide CPU device mode, enabled via the OPENVKL_ISA_AVX512SKX_8_WIDE CMake option
• VDB volumes: added support for packed / contiguous data layouts for temporally constant volumes, which can provide improved performance (nodesPackedDense, nodesPackedTile parameters)
• VDB utility library: added repackNodes flag to toggle usage of packed data layouts
• Particle volumes: general memory efficiency and performance improvements
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies
• Minimum ISPC version is now v1.18.0

Open VKL v1.2.0

• Added vklSetParam() API function which can set parameters of any supported type
• Structured regular volumes:
  • Added support for cell-centered data via the cellCentered parameter; vertex-centered remains the default
  • Added support for more general transformations via the indexToObject parameter
  • Added indexOrigin parameter which applies an index-space vec3i translation
• VDB volumes:
  • Added indexClippingBounds parameter, which can restrict the active voxel bounding box
  • The indexToObject parameter can now be provided as a VKL_AFFINE3F
  • Corrected bounding box computations in InnerNode observer
• Particle volumes:
  • Now ignoring particles with zero radius
• VDB utility library: added commit flag (default true) to volume creation methods, allowing apps to set additional parameters before first commit
• Examples:
  • Added new set of minimal examples, which step through creation of basic volume and isosurface renderers
  • Exposing intervalResolutionHint parameter in vklExamples application
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies

Open VKL v1.1.0

• vklExamples improvements: asynchronous rendering, multiple viewports, docking, and more
• Fixed bug in openvkl_utility_vdb which could lead to crashes when creating VDB volumes with temporally constant tiles
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies
• Minimum rkcommon version is now 1.8.0

Open VKL v1.0.1

• Fixed issue in structuredRegular and vdb interval iterators that could lead to erroneous initial intervals for certain ray inputs
• Fixed handling of intervalResolutionHint interval iterator context parameter for amr, particle, and unstructured volumes with small numbers of cells / primitives

Open VKL v1.0.0

• The version 1.0 release marks long term API stability (until v2.0)
• Open VKL can now be built for ARM CPUs that support Neon
• Iterator API updates:
  • Introducing interval and hit iterator contexts, which hold iterator-specific configuration (eliminates value selector objects)
  • Interval and hit iteration is now supported on any volume attribute
  • Interval iterators now include a time parameter
  • Interval iterators now support the intervalResolutionHint parameter, replacing maxIteratorDepth and elementaryCellIteration
• Supporting configurable background values; default is now VKL_BACKGROUND_UNDEFINED (NaN) for all volume types
• vklGetValueRange() now supports all volume attributes
• Added ISPC-side API bindings for vklGetNumAttributes() and vklGetValueRange()
• Structured regular volumes:
  • Added support for tricubic filtering
  • More accurate gradient computations respecting filter mode
  • Hit iteration robustness improvements
• VDB volumes:
  • Interval and hit iteration robustness improvements
  • Corrected interval iterator nominalDeltaT computation for non-normalized ray directions and non-uniform object-space grid spacings
  • Fixed bug which could cause incorrect value range computations for temporally varying volumes
• vklExamples additions demonstrating:
  • Multi-attribute interval / hit iteration
  • Configurable background values
  • Temporally varying volumes
• Superbuild updates to latest versions of dependencies
• Now requiring minimum versions:
  • Embree 3.13.1
  • rkcommon 1.7.0
  • ISPC 1.16.0

Open VKL v0.13.0

• Driver (now device) API changes:
  • Renamed VKLDriver to VKLDevice and updated associated device setup APIs
  • Use of multiple concurrent devices is now supported; therefore vklNewVolume() and vklNewData() now require a device handle
  • Renamed the ispc_device module and ispc device to cpu_device and cpu, respectively
  • The OPENVKL_CPU_DEVICE_DEFAULT_WIDTH environment variable can now be used to change the cpu device's default SIMD width at run time
• Added new VKLTemporalFormat enum used for temporally varying volume parameterization
• VDB volumes:
  • Support for temporally structured and temporally unstructured (TUV) attribute data, which can be used for motion blurred rendering
  • Supporting tricubic filtering via VKL_FILTER_TRICUBIC filter type
  • Added support for half precision float-point (FP16) attribute data via VKL_HALF data type
  • Added a new InnerNode observer and associated utility functions which allows applications to introspect inner nodes of the internal tree structure, including bounding boxes and value ranges
  • Renamed VKL_FORMAT_CONSTANT_ZYX to VKL_FORMAT_DENSE_ZYX
• Structured regular and spherical volumes:
  • Added support for half precision float-point (FP16) attribute data via VKL_HALF data type
• Unstructured volumes:
  • Added support for elementary cell iteration via the elementaryCellIteration parameter
  • Robustness improvements for hit iteration
• AMR volumes:
  • Improved interval iterator implementation, resolving issues with returned interval nominalDeltaT values
  • Interval iterators now support maxIteratorDepth parameter
• Interval and hit iteration performance improvements when multiple values ranges / values are selected
• Added new temporal compression utilities which applications can use for processing temporally unstructured attribute data
• vklExamples additions demonstrating:
  • Motion blurred rendering on temporally structured and temporally unstructured vdb volumes
  • Tricubic filtering on vdb volumes
  • Half-precision floating-point (FP16) support for structuredRegular, structuredSpherical, and vdb volumes
  • Elementary cell interval iteration on unstructured volumes
  • Use of the InnerNode observer on vdb volumes
• Superbuild updates to:
  • Embree 3.13.0
  • rkcommon 1.6.1
• Minimum rkcommon version is now 1.6.1