The RADIANCE
Lighting Simulation
and Rendering System
Gregory J. Ward / GJWard@lbl.gov
Citation:
Ward, Gregory J., "The RADIANCE Lighting Simulation and Rendering System,"
Computer Graphics (Proceedings of '94 SIGGRAPH conference), July 1994,
pp. 459-72.
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ABSTRACT
This paper describes a physically-based rendering system tailored to
the demands of lighting design and architecture.
The simulation uses a light-backwards ray-tracing method with
extensions to efficiently solve the rendering equation under most
conditions.
This includes specular, diffuse and directional-diffuse reflection
and transmission in any combination to any level in any environment,
including complicated, curved geometries.
The simulation blends deterministic and stochastic ray-tracing
techniques to achieve the best balance between speed and
accuracy in its local and global illumination methods.
Some of the more interesting techniques are outlined, with
references to more detailed descriptions elsewhere.
Finally, examples are given
of successful applications of this free software by others.
CR Categories:
I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/image generation -
Display algorithms;
I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism -
Shading.
Additional Keywords and Phrases:
lighting simulation,
Monte Carlo, physically-based rendering, radiosity, ray-tracing.