Efficient Light Transport Algorithms for Computer Graphics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Many realistic image synthesis algorithms have been proposed in the last few years, but unfortunately they tend to be very inefficient, often requiring hours or days of calculations. As a result, the visual cues provided by these algorithms (shading, shadows, transparency, reflections, etc.) still have not been used routinely by applications requiring visualization. This project is concerned with development of efficient image synthesis algorithms based on the integral equation representing light transport in the environment. It used techniques recently developed to solve the N-body problem in linear time. Preliminary results indicate that the interaction matrix corresponding to the integral equation with a linear number of blocks can be approximated. Since this approximation has linear-space complexity, it makes it possible to explore solution techniques that have been previously too time and memory intensive to consider. It also studies visibility problems, sampling and meshing problems, and lazy evaluation strategies within the context of solving the light transport equation. Finally, these ideas will be implemented and tested. The long range goal of all this research is to develop robust and practical algorithms that can be incorporated into 3D graphics workstations of the future.