Interactive high dynamic range rendering for virtual reality applications
Josselin Petit, Roland Brémond · 2009
Realistic images can be computed at interactive frame rates for Virtual Reality applications. Meanwhile, High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering has a growing success in video games and virtual reality, as it improves the image quality and the player's immersion feeling. We propose a new method, based on a simplified physical model of light propagation, to compute in real time a HDR illumination in a Virtual Environment (VE). Our method allows to re-use existing Low Dynamic Range (LDR) Virtual Databases as input in order to compute the HDR images. Then, from these HDR images, displayable 8-bit images are rendered with a Tone Mapping Operator (TMO) and displayed on a standard display device. The HDR computation and the TMO are implemented in OpenSceneGraph (OSG), working in real time with pixel shaders. The method is illustrated with a practical application where the Dynamic Range is a key rendering issue: driving at night. The VE includes light sources such as road lighting and car headlights.