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Specular Effects on the GPU: State of the Art
Author(s) -
SzirmayKalos László,
Umenhoffer Tamás,
Patow Gustavo,
Szécsi László,
Sbert Mateu
Publication year - 2009
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/j.1467-8659.2009.01350.x
Subject(s) - ray tracing (physics) , specular reflection , computer science , computer graphics (images) , caustic (mathematics) , focus (optics) , distributed ray tracing , tracing , optics , geometry , rendering (computer graphics) , physics , mathematics , programming language
This survey reviews algorithms that can render specular, i.e. mirror reflections, refractions, and caustics on the GPU. We establish a taxonomy of methods based on the three main different ways of representing the scene and computing ray intersections with the aid of the GPU, including ray tracing in the original geometry, ray tracing in the sampled geometry, and geometry transformation. Having discussed the possibilities of implementing ray tracing, we consider the generation of single reflections/refractions, interobject multiple reflections/refractions, and the general case which also includes self‐reflections or refractions. Moving the focus from the eye to the light sources, caustic effect generation approaches are also examined.