Bio
I am a Senior Graphics Architect at NVIDIA. My interests include computer graphics and visualization, focusing on ray tracing algorithms and architectures, and rendering.
I defended my Ph.D. in Computer Graphics in 2018 at the University of Utah as part of the Hardware Ray Tracing Group, advised by Erik Brunvand and Cem Yuksel. At the start of my Ph.D. program, I worked on automatic quad meshing under the supervision of Valerio Pascucci at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute.
I have graduated with a B.A. in Physics and Mathematics from Cornell University in 2007. After I joined the Program of Computer Graphics to pursue my M.S. degree under the supervision of Don Greenberg and Alexander Vladimirsky, and have successfully defended my thesis in 2010.
Theses
Dual Streaming for Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing
PhD Thesis
University of Utah, 2019
Project pageThesisBibTeX @phdthesis{ks:phdThesis:2019, title = {Dual Streaming for Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing}, author = {Konstantin {Shkurko}}, year = {2019}, school = {University of Utah} }
Real-Time Volume Rendering of 3D Medical Scan Data
Masters Thesis
Cornell University, 2010
Project pageThesisPresentationBibTeX @mastersthesis{ks:msThesis:2010, title = {Real-Time Visualization of 3D Medical Scan Data}, author = {Konstantin {Shkurko}}, year = {2010}, school = {Cornell University} }
Publications
Mach-RT: A Many Chip Architecture for High Performance Ray Tracing
Elena Vasiou, Konstantin Shkurko, Erik Brunvand, and Cem Yuksel
In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2020
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @article{Vasiou:2020:MachRT, author = {Elena Vasiou and Konstantin Shkurko and Erik Brunvand and Cem Yuksel}, title = {Mach-RT: A Many Chip Architecture for High-Performance Ray Tracing}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics}, year = {2020}, numpages = {12}, doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2020.3021048}, issn = {1077-2626}, }
Mach-RT: A Many Chip Architecture for Ray Tracing
Elena Vasiou, Konstantin Shkurko, Erik Brunvand, and Cem Yuksel
In High Performance Graphics (short papers track) (HPG), 2019
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{Vasiou:2019:MachRT, author = {Elena Vasiou and Konstantin Shkurko and Erik Brunvand and Cem Yuksel}, title = {Mach-RT: A Many Chip Architecture for High-Performance Ray Tracing}, booktitle = {High-Performance Graphics (HPG 2019)}, year = {2019}, location = {Strasbourg, France}, isbn = {978-3-03868-092-5}, doi = {10.2312/hpg.20191188}, issn = {2079-8687}, publisher = {The Eurographics Association}, }
Aesthetically-Oriented Atmospheric Scattering
Yang Shen, Ian Mallett, and Konstantin Shkurko
In Expressive, 2019
Project pagePaperPresentationPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{Shen:2019:AOAS, title = {Aesthetically-Oriented Atmospheric Scattering}, author = {Shen, Yang and Mallett, Ian and Shkurko, Konstantin}, booktitle = {ACM/EG Expressive Symposium}, editor = {Kaplan, Craig S. and Forbes, Angus and DiVerdi, Stephen}, year = {2019}, pages = {79-86}, publisher = {The Eurographics Association}, ISBN = {978-3-03868-078-9}, DOI = {10.2312/exp.20191079} }
Dual-Split Trees
Daqi Lin, Konstantin Shkurko, Ian Mallett, and Cem Yuksel
In Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games (I3D), 2019
Project pagePaperSupplementPublisher's VersionBibTeX @proceedings{Lin:2019:dualSplitTrees, author = {Daqi Lin and Konstantin Shkurko and Ian Mallett and Cem Yuksel}, title = {Dual-Split Trees}, journal = {Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games (I3D 2019)}, month = may, year = {2019}, location = {Montreal, Quebec, Canada}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3306131.3317028}, doi = {10.1145/3306131.3317028}, publisher = {ACM Press}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, }
Best Conference Paper
A Detailed Study of Ray Tracing Performance: Render Time and Energy Cost
Elena Vasiou, Konstantin Shkurko, Ian Mallett, Erik Brunvand, and Cem Yuksel
In The Visual Computer (Proceedings of CGI 2018), 2018
Project pagePaperSupplementPublisher's VersionBibTeX @article{Vasiou:2018:rtEnergy, author = {Elena Vasiou and Konstantin Shkurko and Ian Mallett and Erik Brunvand and Cem Yuksel}, title = {A Detailed Study of Ray Tracing Performance: Render Time and Energy Cost}, journal = {The Visual Computer (Proceedings of CGI 2018)}, issue_date = {June 2018}, volume = {34}, number = {6-8}, month = jun, year = {2018}, issn = {0178-2789}, pages = {875--885}, numpages = {11}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-018-1532-8}, doi = {10.1007/s00371-018-1532-8}, acmid = {3231419}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, }
SimTRaX: Simulation Infrastructure for Exploring Thousands of Cores
Konstantin Shkurko, Tim Grant, Erik Brunvand, Daniel Kopta, Josef Spjut, Elena Vasiou, Ian Mallett, and Cem Yuksel
In Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI), 2018
Project pagePaperTech ReportPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{Shkurko:2018:simtrax, author = {Konstantin Shkurko and Tim Grant and Erik Brunvand and Daniel Kopta and Josef Spjut and Elena Vasiou and Ian Mallett and Cem Yuksel}, title = {{SimTRaX}: Simulation Infrastructure for Exploring Thousands of Cores}, booktitle = {2018 Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI}, series = {GLSVLSI '18}, year = {2018}, isbn = {978-1-4503-5724-1}, location = {Chicago, IL}, pages = {121--128}, numpages = {4}, acmid = {2492058}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3194554.3194650}, doi = {10.1145/3194554.3194650}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, }
Time Interval Ray Tracing for Motion Blur
Konstantin Shkurko, Cem Yuksel, Daniel Kopta, Ian Mallett, and Erik Brunvand
In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2017
Project pagePaperSupplementPublisher's VersionBibTeX @article{8115176, author = {Shkurko, Konstantin and Yuksel, Cem and Kopta, Daniel and Mallett, Ian and Brunvand, Erik}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics}, title = {Time Interval Ray Tracing for Motion Blur}, year = {2018}, volume = {24}, number = {12}, pages = {3225-3238}, doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2017.2775241} }
Dual Streaming for Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing
Konstantin Shkurko, Tim Grant, Daniel Kopta, Ian Mallett, Cem Yuksel, and Erik Brunvand
In High Performance Graphics (HPG), 2017
Project pagePaperPresentationPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{Shkurko:2017:DSHWRT, author = {Konstantin Shkurko and Tim Grant and Daniel Kopta and Ian Mallett and Cem Yuksel and Erik Brunvand}, title = {Dual Streaming for Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing}, booktitle = {High-Performance Graphics (HPG 2017)}, year = {2017}, numpages = {11}, location = {Los Angeles, CA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-5101-0/17/07}, url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3105762.3105771}, doi = {10.1145/3105762.3105771}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, }
Memory Considerations for Low Energy Ray Tracing
Daniel Kopta, Konstantin Shkurko, Josef Spjut, Erik Brunvand, and Al Davis
In Computer Graphics Forum (CGF), 2014
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @article{CGF14_koptaMemConsLowEnergyRT, author = {Daniel Kopta and Konstantin Shkurko and Josef Spjut and Erik Brunvand and Al Davis}, journal = {Computer Graphics Forum}, title = {{Memory Considerations for Low Energy Ray Tracing}}, year = {2015}, volume = {34}, number = {1}, pages = {47--59}, issn = {1467-8659}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cgf.12458}, doi = {10.1111/cgf.12458} }
An Energy and Bandwidth Efficient Ray Tracing Architecture
Daniel Kopta, Konstantin Shkurko, Josef Spjut, Erik Brunvand, and Al Davis
In High Performance Graphics (HPG), 2013
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{HPG13_koptaEnergyBandwEfficientRTArch, author = {Daniel Kopta and Konstantin Shkurko and Josef Spjut and Erik Brunvand and Al Davis}, booktitle = {High-Performance Graphics 2013}, title = {{An Energy and Bandwidth Efficient Ray Tracing Architecture}}, pages = {121–128}, doi = {10.1145/2492045.2492058}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2492045.2492058}, year = {2013} }
Simulating Radio Frequency Propagation via Ray Tracing
Konstantin Shkurko, Thiago Ize, Christiaan Gribble, Erik Brunvand, and Lee A. Butler
In GPU Technology Conference (GTC), 2013
A New Instrument for High-Speed, High Resolution Stereoscopic Photography of Falling Hydrometeors with Simultaneous Measurement of Fallspeed
Tim Garrett, Cale Fallgatter, Konstantin Shkurko, Daniel Howlett, Sandra Yuter, Nate Hardin, and Jennifer Dean
In American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2012
The Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera
Tim Garrett, Edward Bair, Cale Fallgatter, Konstantin Shkurko, Robert E. Davis, and Daniel Howlett
In International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW), 2012
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{garrettmulti2012, title = {The Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera}, abstract = {We introduce a new instrument called the Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (MASC). The MASC provides 10 to 40 $\mu$m resolution stereoscopic images of individual hydrometeors in freefall, while simultaneously measuring their fallspeed. Previously, manual photography of hydrometeors required collection on a flat surface, a process that is somewhat subjective and remarkably finicky due to the fragile nature of the particles. By contrast, the MASC is fully automated, and uses a sensitive IR trigger so that no physical contact is necessary. Field measurements at Alta and Mammoth are showing an extraordinary variety of hydrometeor forms. The MASC has many potential applications. We highlight three current projects: 1) improving understanding of the size-fallspeed relationships that are used to characterize precipitation in Doppler radar retrievals and numerical weather prediction models, 2) identifying weak crystals that form failure layers in avalanches during storms, and 3) using MASC measurements in conjunction with a scanning terrestrial LiDAR to estimate precipitation rates during storms.}, author = {Garrett, Timothy J. and Bair, Edward H. and Fallgatter, Cale J. and Shkurko, Konstantin and Davis, Robert E. and Howlett, Daniel}, booktitle = {2012 International Snow Science Workshop - ISSW '12}, address = {Anchorage, Alaska, USA}, month = {September}, year = {2012} }
Fall Speed Measurement and High-Resolution Multi-Angle Photography of Hydrometeors in Free Fall
Tim Garrett, Cale Fallgatter, Konstantin Shkurko, and Daniel Howlett
In Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT), Vol 5, Iss 11, 2012
Project pagePaperPublisher's VersionBibTeX @article{amt-5-2625-2012, title = {Fall speed measurement and high-resolution multi-angle photography of hydrometeors in free fall}, author = {Garrett, T. J. and Fallgatter, C. and Shkurko, K. and Howlett, D.}, journal = {Atmospheric Measurement Techniques}, volume = {5}, year = {2012}, number = {11}, pages = {2625--2633}, url = {http://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/5/2625/2012/}, doi = {10.5194/amt-5-2625-2012} }
A Radial Basis Function and Semantic Learning Space Based Composite Learning Approach to Image Retrieval
Konstantin Shkurko and Xiaojun Qi
In International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2007
Project pagePaperPresentationPublisher's VersionBibTeX @inproceedings{Shkurko2007, author = {Shkurko, Konstantin and Qi, Xiaojun}, booktitle = {2007 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - ICASSP '07}, doi = {10.1109/ICASSP.2007.366065}, isbn = {1-4244-0727-3}, issn = {1520-6149}, month = apr, pages = {945 -- 948}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{A Radial Basis Function and Semantic Learning Space Based Composite Learning Approach to Image Retrieval}}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/lpdocs/epic03/wrapper.htm?arnumber=4217237}, year = {2007} }
Projects
CS 6630, Introduction to Visualization
The goal of this course is to develop a broad understanding of the principles, methods, and techniques for designing effective visualizations of data. The course spanned a wide range of topics, encompassing foundations in both information and scientific visualization. We gained experience in using cutting-edge data analysis tools, as well as in developing your own visualization tools using a variety of languages and toolkits.
CS 6620, Advanced Computer Graphics II
During this class, we started with ray casting, then progressed towards Monte Carlo Ray Tracing and Photon Maping. I sat in on it and was able to complete only part of the work (9 of 12 projects), see (class page), which can be seen in the link below.
CS 6965, Hardware Ray Tracing
During this class, we started from ray tracing and finished with Kajia-style path tracing. One of the class requirenments was for our code to compile via LLVM and the result to be simulated by a cycle accurate hardware simulator of the TRaX SPMD architecture.
I rendered a few scenes with several different effects all of which are shown on the project page. One of the scenes for the final project had 2.4 million triangles. The resulting images for each project are shown in sections labeled Creative Images. All of the code is available for download but requires TRaX API.