We present a new parallel occlusion culling algorithm
for interactive display of large environments. It uses a
cluster of three graphics processing units (GPUs) to compute
an occlusion representation, cull away occluded objects and
render the visible primitives. Moreover, our parallel architecture
reverses the role of two of the GPUs between successive
frames to lower the communication overhead. We have
combined the occlusion culling algorithm with pre-computed
levels-of-detail and use it for interactive display of geometric
datasets. The resulting system has been implemented and
applied to large environments composed of tens of millions
of primitives. In practice, it is able to render such models
at interactive rates with little loss in image fidelity. The performance
of the overall occlusion culling algorithm is based
on the graphics hardware computational power growth curve
which has recently outperformed the Moore’s Law for general
CPU power growth.