Daylight simulation with photon maps
Roland Schregle · 2004
Physically based image synthesis remains one of the most demanding tasks in the computer graphics eld, whose applications have evolved along with the techniques in recent years, particularly with the decline in cost of powerful computing hardware. Physically based rendering is essentially a niche since it goes beyond the photore-alistic look required by mainstream applications with the goal of computing actual lighting levels in physical quantities within a complex 3D scene. Unlike mainstream applications which merely demand visually convincing images and short rendering times, physically based rendering emphasises accuracy at the cost of increased computational overhead. Among the more specialised applications for physically based rendering is lighting simulation, particularly in conjunction with daylight. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the applicability of a novel image synthe-sis technique based on Monte Carlo particle transport to daylight simulation. Many materials used in daylight simulation are specically designed to redirect light, and as such give rise to complex effects such as caustics. The photon map technique