Optimized View Frustum Culling Algorithms for Bounding Boxes

Abstract

This paper presents optimizations for faster view frustum culling (VFC) for axis-aligned bounding box (AABB) and oriented bounding box (OBB) hierarchies. We exploit frame-to-frame coherency by caching and by comparing against previous distances and rotation angles. By using an octant test, we potentially halve the number of plane tests needed, and we also evaluate masking, which is a well-known technique. The optimizations can be used for arbitrary bounding volumes, but we present only results for AABBs and OBBs. In particular, we provide solutions which are 2-11 times faster than other VFC algorithms for AABBs and OBBs, depending on the circumstances.