A Frequency Analysis and Dual Hierarchy for Efficient Rendering of Subsurface Scattering

International audienceBSSRDFs are commonly used to model subsurface light transport in highly scattering media such as skin and marble. Rendering with BSSRDFs requires an additional spatial integration, which can be significantly more expensive than surface-only rendering with BRDFs. We introduce a novel hierarchical rendering method that can mitigate this additional spatial integration cost. Our method has two key components: a novel frequency analysis of subsurface light transport, and a dual hierarchy over shading and illumination samples. Our frequency analysis predicts the spatial and angular variation of outgoing radiance due to a BSSRDF. We use this analysis to drive adaptive spatial BSSRDF integration with sparse image and illumination samples. We propose the use of a dual-tree structure that allows us to simultaneously traverse a tree of shade points (i.e., pixels) and a tree of object-space illumination samples. Our dual-tree approach generalizes existing single-tree accelerations. Both our frequency analysis and the dual-tree structure are compatible with most existing BSSRDF models, and we show that our method improves rendering times compared to the state of the art method of Jensen and Buhler

An evaluation of the performance of multi-static handheld ground penetrating radar using full wave inversion for landmine detection

This thesis presents an empirical study comparing the ability of multi-static and bi-static, handheld, ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems, using full wave inversion (FWI), to determine the properties of buried anti-personnel (AP) landmines. A major problem associated with humanitarian demining is the occurrence of many false positives during clearance operations. Therefore, a reduction of the false alarm rate (FAR) and/or increasing the probability of detection (POD) is a key research and technical objective. Sensor fusion has emerged as a technique that promises to significantly enhance landmine detection. This study considers a handheld, combined metal detector (MD) and GPR device, and quantifies the advantages of the use of antenna arrays. During demining operations with such systems, possible targets are detected using the MD and further categorised using the GPR, possibly excluding false positives. A system using FWI imaging techniques to estimate the subsurface parameters is considered in this work.A previous study of multi-static GPR FWI used simplistic, 2D far-field propagation models, despite the targets being 3D and within the near field. This novel study uses full 3D electromagnetic (EM) wave simulation of the antenna arrays and propagation through the air and ground. Full EM simulation allows the sensitivity of radio measurements to landmine characteristics to be determined. The number and configuration of antenna elements are very important and must be optimised, contrary to the 2D sensitivity studies in (Watson, Lionheart 2014, Watson 2016) which conclude that the degree (number of elements) of the multi-static system is not critical. A novel sensitivity analysis for tilted handheld GPR antennas is used to demonstrate the positive impact of tilted antenna orientation on detection performance. A time domain GPR and A-scan data, consistent with a commercial handheld system, the MINEHOUND, is used throughout the simulated experiments which are based on synthetic GPR measurements.Finally, this thesis introduces a novel method of optimising the FWI solution through feature extraction or estimation of the internal air void typically present in pressure activated mines, to distinguish mines from non-mine targets and reduce the incidence of false positives

The Impact of Surface Normals on Appearance

The appearance of an object is the result of complex light interaction with the object. Beyond the basic interplay between incident light and the object\u27s material, a multitude of physical events occur between this illumination and the microgeometry at the point of incidence, and also beneath the surface. A given object, made as smooth and opaque as possible, will have a completely different appearance if either one of these attributes - amount of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) or translucency - is altered. Indeed, while they are not always readily perceptible, the small-scale features of an object are as important to its appearance as its material properties. Moreover, surface mesostructure and translucency are inextricably linked in an overall effect on appearance. In this dissertation, we present several studies examining the importance of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) and translucency on an object\u27s appearance. First, we present an empirical study that establishes how poorly a mesostructure estimation technique can perform when translucent objects are used as input. We investigate the two major factors in determining an object\u27s translucency: mean free path and scattering albedo. We exhaustively vary the settings of these parameters within realistic bounds, examining the subsequent blurring effect on the output of a common shape estimation technique, photometric stereo. Based on our findings, we identify a dramatic effect that the input of a translucent material has on the quality of the resultant estimated mesostructure. In the next project, we discuss an optimization technique for both refining estimated surface orientation of translucent objects and determining the reflectance characteristics of the underlying material. For a globally planar object, we use simulation and real measurements to show that the blurring effect on normals that was observed in the previous study can be recovered. The key to this is the observation that the normalization factor for recovered normals is proportional to the error on the accuracy of the blur kernel created from estimated translucency parameters. Finally, we frame the study of the impact of surface normals in a practical, image-based context. We discuss our low-overhead, editing tool for natural images that enables the user to edit surface mesostructure while the system automatically updates the appearance in the natural image. Because a single photograph captures an instant of the incredibly complex interaction of light and an object, there is a wealth of information to extract from a photograph. Given a photograph of an object in natural lighting, we allow mesostructure edits and infer any missing reflectance information in a realistically plausible way

Light Simulation with Participating Media

In this project we address the problem of light scattering in participating materials. We create a complete simulation of this phenomenon in a more general case than previous work. We analyse the directional part of light, in order to install a clear basis for future work. We derive two models from this analysis: the spherical Gaussians approximation and the double exponential approximation. These models are placed in the scope of the planned development of an improved method for scattering. We also code a custom ray tracer to have a complete pipeline of rendering and to understand the underneath concepts. The validation of our simulation is done by comparing against the results of Eugene d'Eon in his article of Quantized-diffusion.Dans ce projet, nous abordons le problème de la diffusion de la lumière dans des matériaux participant. Nous créons une simulation complète de ce phénomène dans un cas plus général que les travaux précédents. Nous analysons la partie directionnelle de la lumière, dans le but d'installer une base claire à de futurs travaux. Nous tirons deux modèles de cette analyse : l'approximation de gaussiennes sphériques et l'approximation de double exponentielle. Ces modèles sont placés dans le cadre de l'élaboration prévue d'une méthode amélioré pour la diffusion. Nous codons également un lanceur de rayons dans le but d'avoir un pipeline complet de rendu et de comprendre les concepts sous-jacents. La validation de notre simulation est effectuée en comparant avec les résultats de Eugene d'Eon dans son article Quantized-diffusion

An emperical model for heterogeneous translucent objects

We introduce an empirical model for multiple scattering in heterogeneous translucent objects for which classical approximations such as the dipole approximation to the di usion equation are no longer valid. Motivated by the exponential fall-o of scattered intensity with distance, di use subsurface scattering is represented as a sum of exponentials per surface point plus a modulation texture. Modeling quality can be improved by using an anisotropic model where exponential parameters are determined per surface location and scattering direction. We validate the scattering model for a set of planar object samples which were recorded under controlled conditions and quantify the modeling error. Furthermore, several translucent objects with complex geometry are captured and compared to the real object under similar illumination conditions

Analysis of light transport in scattering media

We propose a new method to analyze light transport in homogeneous scattering media. The incident light undergoes multiple bounces in translucent objects, and produces a complex light field. Our method analyzes the light transport in two steps. First, single and multiple scattering are separated by projecting high-frequency stripe patterns. Then, multiple scattering is decomposed into each bounce component based on the light transport equation. The light field for each bounce is recursively estimated. Experimental results show that light transport in scattering media can be decomposed and visualized for each bounce.Microsoft Researc