Background. Particle systems render groups of points in space that are used to add various effects to a scene. When rendering particles, there are various advantages and disadvantages for rendering an effect in either object-space or image-space. The former uses calculations in a 3D environment, while the latter adds particles to a 2D image. There is a lack of existing research to understand the trade-off in performance and in effort when applying these two techniques.

Objectives. This thesis aims to compare the performance difference between particle systems in object-space versus image-space. The intent is to do this using a C++ DirectX11 implementation.

Methods. The primary methodology of this thesis was an implementation complemented by a performance evaluation. Two particle systems were made to render the same particle effect. The systems were run at five different particle amounts and the FPS was recorded for 30 seconds while the simulations ran.

Results. The data presented displays the average FPS recorded, with different line graphs for the various particle amounts. The results show an overall better performance of the O-system.

Conclusions. While the O-system performed better, the various techniques and optimizations available to particle systems that render in image-space would allow avastly different result. This thesis would be well complemented with further research. It would also be furthered by comparing performance while additional geometry interacts with the particles.