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Radiosity in Flatland
Author(s) -
Heckhert Paul S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8659.1130181
Subject(s) - radiosity (computer graphics) , piecewise , discontinuity (linguistics) , classification of discontinuities , global illumination , piecewise linear function , shadow (psychology) , a priori and a posteriori , finite element method , computer science , mathematics , algorithm , mathematical analysis , computer graphics (images) , rendering (computer graphics) , physics , psychology , philosophy , thermodynamics , epistemology , psychotherapist
Abstract The radiosity method for the simulation of interreflection of light between diffuse surfaces is such a common image synthesis technique that its derivation is worthy of study. We here examine the radiosity method in a two dimensional, flatland world. It is shown that the radiosity method is a simple finite element method for the solution of the integral equation governing global illumination. These two‐dimensional studies help explain the radiosity method in general and suggest a number of improvements to existing algorithms. In particular, radiosity solutions can be improved using a priori discontinuity meshing , placing mesh boundaries on discontinuities such as shadow edges. When discontinuity meshing is used along with piecewise‐linear approximations instead of the current piecewise‐constant approximations, the accuracy of radiosity simulations can be greatly increased.