A Survey of Rendering Techniques in Computer Augmented Reality
David Cheshire, Ridha Omar, Mohamad Taha Ijab · 2003
Augmented Reality is a field of Virtual Reality in which virtual information is combined with real information. AR allows synthetic data to be composited with the real world. The data can be in the form of 3D geometry enabling users with special hardware devices to see a mixture of synthetic and real world objects using. The potential and applications of Augmented Reality are boundless, from the entertainment industry, training, manufacturing, robotics, aircraft maintenance, medicine, military, to tourism. The research and development of Augmented Reality software can be broadly classified into four mainstream areas: tracking and registration; timing issues; rendering techniques; and finally human ergonomics issues. This paper focuses solely on the third area - rendering techniques. Research into rendering techniques aims to achieve seamless integration of synthetic objects with a real environment such that these synthetic objects are indistinguishable from the real world environment. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of the art in Augmented Reality rendering. This includes such issues as shadows, interreflection and occlusion, and also the use of illumination techniques for producing more realistic 3D objects and providing appropriate visual cues. This review will enable researchers to target the areas which still need further work.