ADAPTIVE SAMPLING OF PIXELS

• US 20170278296A1
• Filed: 03/25/2016
• Published: 09/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Outward, Inc. (Williams-Sonoma Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Outward, Inc. (Williams-Sonoma Inc.)
• Inventors: Chui, Clarence, Parmar, Manu
• Granted Patent: US 10,109,100 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/06 Ray-tracing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes

Abstract

Adaptive sampling of pixels is disclosed. In some embodiments, an initial rendering of a scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene is generated, and a ray traced rendering of the scene is generated by tracing an initial sample of rays. The following steps are iterated until all portions of the ray traced rendering satisfy a noise threshold: subtract the initial rendering of the scene from the ray traced rendering of the scene to determine a measure of noise at each portion of the ray traced rendering and trace another sample of rays in the ray traced rendering for each portion of the ray traced rendering that does not satisfy the noise threshold. The completed ray traced rendering is outputted. Different portions of the completed ray traced rendering are sampled with different numbers of samples of rays.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

generate an initial rendering of a scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene;

generate a ray traced rendering of the scene by tracing an initial sample of rays;

iterate the following until all portions of the ray traced rendering satisfy a noise threshold;

subtract the initial rendering of the scene from the ray traced rendering of the scene to determine a measure of noise at each portion of the ray traced rendering; and

trace another sample of rays in the ray traced rendering for each portion of the ray traced rendering that does not satisfy the noise threshold; and

output the completed ray traced rendering, wherein different portions of the completed ray traced rendering are sampled with different numbers of samples of rays; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a virtual camera having an adaptive sensor customized based on the scene being rendered.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each portion of the scene corresponds to a pixel of an image plane of the sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each portion of the ray traced rendering corresponds to a pixel of an image comprising the rendering.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a specification of the scene to render.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the specification of the scene comprises information about one or more of scene content, objects, geometry, lighting, environment, textures, and virtual camera position from which the scene is viewed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the scene comprises a view of a three-dimensional virtual environment.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial rendering of the scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene comprises a rasterization rendering or a scanline rendering.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial rendering of the scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene comprises an OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) rendering.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial rendering of the scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene comprises a first intersection ray cast or traced rendering without any bounces.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial sample of rays comprises a prescribed number of one or more samples of rays.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the noise threshold specifies convergence conditions.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the noise threshold comprises a measure of variance.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the noise threshold comprises a measure of visible noise.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the noise threshold comprises a measure of SNR (signal-to-noise ratio).

16. The system of claim 1, wherein specular portions of the scene are sampled more than diffused portions of the scene.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the ray traced rendering comprises an image or a frame of a video sequence.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein ray tracing comprises path tracing.

19. A method, comprising:

generating an initial rendering of a scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene;

generating a ray traced rendering of the scene by tracing an initial sample of rays;

iterating the following until all portions of the ray traced rendering satisfy a noise threshold;

subtract the initial rendering of the scene from the ray traced rendering of the scene to determine a measure of noise at each portion of the ray traced rendering; and

trace another sample of rays in the ray traced rendering for each portion of the ray traced rendering that does not satisfy the noise threshold; and

outputting the completed ray traced rendering, wherein different portions of the completed ray traced rendering are sampled with different numbers of samples of rays.

20. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

generating an initial rendering of a scene that determines texture at each portion of the scene;

generating a ray traced rendering of the scene by tracing an initial sample of rays;

iterating the following until all portions of the ray traced rendering satisfy a noise threshold;

subtract the initial rendering of the scene from the ray traced rendering of the scene to determine a measure of noise at each portion of the ray traced rendering; and

trace another sample of rays in the ray traced rendering for each portion of the ray traced rendering that does not satisfy the noise threshold; and

outputting the completed ray traced rendering, wherein different portions of the completed ray traced rendering are sampled with different numbers of samples of rays.