Rendering with point sampling and pre-computed light transport information
First Claim
1. A method for use in rendering a computer graphics image from 3-D scene data, comprising:
- tracing, by a processor, a ray in a 3-D scene defined by said 3-D scene data, in a direction and originating from a point up to a first end of a transition zone, and continuing through the transition zone to a second end of the transition zone;
wherein the first end of the transition zone is separated from the point by a first distance, such that the ray is traced the first distance before entering the transition zone, and the second end of the transition zone is separated from the point by a second distance greater than the first distance;
if no intersection was detected for the ray closer than the first end of the transition zone, thenmarching a conic section through a 3-D grid of volume elements in the 3-D scene, each volume element associated with data representative of light energy propagating from that volume element, wherein an area of the conic section is determined based on a spreading factor and a distance from the point in the 3-D scene, andcollecting light energy data from volume elements intersected by the conic section during the marching; and
producing, by a processor, shading information for the point in the 3-D scene from the collected light energy from the volume elements, wherein said shading information is used in rendering said computer graphics image.
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Abstract
Rendering system combines point sampling and volume sampling operations to produce rendering outputs. For example, to determine color information for a surface location in a 3-D scene, one or more point sampling operations are conducted in a volume around the surface location, and one or more sampling operations of volumetric light transport data are performed farther from the surface location. A transition zone between point sampling and volume sampling can be provided, in which both point and volume sampling operations are conducted. Data obtained from point and volume sampling operations can be blended in determining color information for the surface location. For example, point samples are obtained by tracing a ray for each point sample, to identify an intersection between another surface and the ray, to be shaded, and volume samples are obtained from a nested 3-D grids of volume elements expressing light transport data at different levels of granularity.
32 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for use in rendering a computer graphics image from 3-D scene data, comprising:
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tracing, by a processor, a ray in a 3-D scene defined by said 3-D scene data, in a direction and originating from a point up to a first end of a transition zone, and continuing through the transition zone to a second end of the transition zone; wherein the first end of the transition zone is separated from the point by a first distance, such that the ray is traced the first distance before entering the transition zone, and the second end of the transition zone is separated from the point by a second distance greater than the first distance; if no intersection was detected for the ray closer than the first end of the transition zone, then marching a conic section through a 3-D grid of volume elements in the 3-D scene, each volume element associated with data representative of light energy propagating from that volume element, wherein an area of the conic section is determined based on a spreading factor and a distance from the point in the 3-D scene, and collecting light energy data from volume elements intersected by the conic section during the marching; and producing, by a processor, shading information for the point in the 3-D scene from the collected light energy from the volume elements, wherein said shading information is used in rendering said computer graphics image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for use in rendering a computer graphics image from 3-D scene data comprising one or more geometrical objects, comprising:
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providing in a computer graphics processing system a hierarchical acceleration structure comprising elements that each bound a respective portion of a 3-D scene defined by said 3-D scene data, and which collectively bound the one or more objects; providing in said computer graphics processing system a 3-D grid of volume elements in the 3-D scene, each volume element associated with data representative of light energy propagating from that volume element; identifying a point on a surface of an object in the 3-D scene for which shading information is to be provided; defining one or more rays to be emitted from the point, each ray including a respective spreading factor; determining a respective threshold distance for each of the rays based on the spreading factor for that ray;
wherein the threshold specifies a range, ending with a maximum distance from the point;tracing, by a processor, each of the one or more rays in the 3-D scene by traversing the hierarchical acceleration structure to identify a respective closest intersection, if any, that is within the maximum distance defined by the threshold distance from the point on the surface, and shading such intersection to produce shading information; for each ray, if no intersection was identified within the maximum distance, then sampling the 3-D grid of volume elements that are within a conic section of the ray defined by a direction of the ray and the spreading factor and outside of the maximum distance from the point on the surface; for each ray, if the closest intersection is in the range of the threshold, then blending shading information produced for the detected intersection with information from samples taken of the 3-D grid of volume elements that are within the range of the threshold; and producing shading information for the point on the surface, using one or more of shading information produced for a detected intersection and sampled light information from the 3-D grid of volume elements, wherein said shading information is used in rendering said computer graphics image. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A method for use in rendering a computer graphics image from 3-D scene data comprising one or more geometrical objects, comprising:
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identifying a point on a surface of an object in a 3-D scene defined by said 3-D scene data for which lighting information is to be determined; performing, by a processor, one or more point sampling operations within a maximum distance from the point along one or more directions, to produce point sampling data; performing, by a processor, one or more volume sampling operations in a 3-D grid of volume elements in the 3-D scene, each volume element associated with data representative of light energy propagating through a surface of that volume element, farther from the point along the direction than the maximum distance; and using the point sampling data and data obtained from the volume sampling operations to produce a rendering output for the point, by blending the point sampling data and the data obtained from the volume sampling operations if a closest intersection is within a range of a threshold distance from the point; wherein said rendering output is used in rendering said computer graphics image. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification