Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Pixar

Matthias Zwicker

Wojciech Jarosz

Derek Nowrouzezahrai

Peter-Pike Sloan

Robert Thomas

A method for rendering radiance for a volumetric medium is provided. A photon simulation produces a representation of photon beams in a scene. The photon beams are rendered with respect to a camera viewpoint, by computing an estimated radiance associated with the photon beams. A global radius scaling factor can be applied to obtain different radii for the photon beams. Over multiple applications of these steps, the global radius scaling factor can be decreased, thereby reducing overall error by facilitating convergence. Finally, the renderer can be efficiently implemented on the GPU as a splatting operation, for use in interactive and real-time applications.

Image processing using progressive generation of intermediate images using photon beams of varying parameters

A method and system for progressively rendering radiance for a volumetric medium is provided. A photon simulation produces a representation of photon beams in a scene. The photon beams are rendered with respect to a camera viewpoint, by computing an estimated radiance associated with the photon beams. A global radius scaling factor is applied to the photon beams. Over multiple iterations of these steps, the global radius scaling factor is progressively decreased, thereby reducing overall error by facilitating convergence. This order can be mixed up. Finally, the renderer can be efficiently implemented on the GPU as a splatting operation, for use in interactive and real-time applications.

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Zurich, Switzerland

Matthias Zwicker