Practical acquisition and rendering of diffraction effects in surface reflectance

We propose two novel contributions for measurement based rendering of diffraction effects in surface reflectance of planar homogeneous diffractive materials. As a general solution for commonly manufactured materials, we propose a practical data-driven rendering technique and a measurement approach to efficiently render complex diffraction effects in real-time. Our measurement step simply involves photographing a planar diffractive sam- ple illuminated with an LED flash. Here, we directly record the resultant diffraction pattern on the sample surface due to a narrow band point source illumination. Furthermore, we propose an efficient rendering method that exploits the measurement in conjunction with the Huygens-Fresnel principle to fit relevant diffraction parameters based on a first order approximation. Our proposed data-driven rendering method requires the precomputation of a single diffraction look up table for accurate spectral rendering of com- plex diffraction effects. Secondly, for sharp specular samples, we propose a novel method for practical measurement of the underlying diffraction grating using out-of-focus “bokeh” photography of the specular highlight. We demonstrate how the measured bokeh can be employed as a height field to drive a diffraction shader based on a first order approximation for efficient real-time rendering. Finally, we also drive analytic solutions for a few special cases of diffraction from our measurements and demonstrate realistic rendering results under complex light sources and environments

Computational Light Transport for Forward and Inverse Problems.

El transporte de luz computacional comprende todas las técnicas usadas para calcular el flujo de luz en una escena virtual. Su uso es ubicuo en distintas aplicaciones, desde entretenimiento y publicidad, hasta diseño de producto, ingeniería y arquitectura, incluyendo el generar datos validados para técnicas basadas en imagen por ordenador. Sin embargo, simular el transporte de luz de manera precisa es un proceso costoso. Como consecuencia, hay que establecer un balance entre la fidelidad de la simulación física y su coste computacional. Por ejemplo, es común asumir óptica geométrica o una velocidad de propagación de la luz infinita, o simplificar los modelos de reflectancia ignorando ciertos fenómenos. En esta tesis introducimos varias contribuciones a la simulación del transporte de luz, dirigidas tanto a mejorar la eficiencia del cálculo de la misma, como a expandir el rango de sus aplicaciones prácticas. Prestamos especial atención a remover la asunción de una velocidad de propagación infinita, generalizando el transporte de luz a su estado transitorio. Respecto a la mejora de eficiencia, presentamos un método para calcular el flujo de luz que incide directamente desde luminarias en un sistema de generación de imágenes por Monte Carlo, reduciendo significativamente la variancia de las imágenes resultantes usando el mismo tiempo de ejecución. Asimismo, introducimos una técnica basada en estimación de densidad en el estado transitorio, que permite reusar mejor las muestras temporales en un medio parcipativo. En el dominio de las aplicaciones, también introducimos dos nuevos usos del transporte de luz: Un modelo para simular un tipo especial de pigmentos gonicromáticos que exhiben apariencia perlescente, con el objetivo de proveer una forma de edición intuitiva para manufactura, y una técnica de imagen sin línea de visión directa usando información del tiempo de vuelo de la luz, construida sobre un modelo de propagación de la luz basado en ondas.<br /

Practical Acquisition and Rendering of Diffraction Effects in Surface Reflectance

We propose two novel contributions for measurement based rendering of diffraction effects in surface reflectance of planar homogeneous diffractive materials. As a general solution for commonly manufactured materials, we propose a practical data-driven rendering technique and a measurement approach to efficiently render complex diffraction effects in real-time. Our measurement step simply involves photographing a planar diffractive sam- ple illuminated with an LED flash. Here, we directly record the resultant diffraction pattern on the sample surface due to a narrow band point source illumination. Furthermore, we propose an efficient rendering method that exploits the measurement in conjunction with the Huygens-Fresnel principle to fit relevant diffraction parameters based on a first order approximation. Our proposed data-driven rendering method requires the precomputation of a single diffraction look up table for accurate spectral rendering of com- plex diffraction effects. Secondly, for sharp specular samples, we propose a novel method for practical measurement of the underlying diffraction grating using out-of-focus “bokeh” photography of the specular highlight. We demonstrate how the measured bokeh can be employed as a height field to drive a diffraction shader based on a first order approximation for efficient real-time rendering. Finally, we also drive analytic solutions for a few special cases of diffraction from our measurements and demonstrate realistic rendering results under complex light sources and environments