Radiosity and Realistic Image Synthesis (Hardcover)

Introduction: Realistic Image Synthesis, Goals and Limitations. A Short Historical Perspective of Image Synthesis. Radiosity and Finite Element Methods. The Radiosity Algorithm and This Book. Rendering Concepts: Motivation. Basic Optics. Radiometry and Photometry. The Light Field. Reflection Functions. The Rendering Equation. Discretizing the Radiosity Equation: the Radiosity Function. Making Image Synthesis Tractable. The Radiosity Approach. Approximating the Radiosity Across a Surface. Error Metrics. Constant Element Radiosities. Higher Order Basic Functions. Parametric Mapping to a Master Element. Summary. The Form Factor, The Form Factor Integral: the Coefficients of K. The Differential Form Factor. Three Formulations of the Form Factor. Computing the Form Factor. Closed Form Solutions for the Form Factor: Formulae for Simple Shapes. Differential Area to Convex Polygon. General Polygon to Polygon. Numerical Solutions for the Form Factor: Numerical Integration in General. Evaluating the Inner Integral. Full Area to Area Quadrature. Contour Integral Formulation. A Simple Test Environment. Non-Constant Basis Functions. Acceleration Techniques. Radiosity Matrix Solutions: Qualities of the Matrix. Linear System Solution Methods. Relaxation Methods. Dynamic Environments. Parallel Implementations. Domain Subdivision: Error Metrics. Mesh Characteristics and Accuracy. Automatic Meshing Algorithms. Hierarchical and Importance Based Algorithms: Observations About K. Two Level Hierarchy. Multi-Level Hierarchy. Importance Meshing. Hierarchical Basis Functions. Summary of Hierarchical Radiosity Methods. Meshing: Basic Subdivision Techniques. Mesh Template Methods. Decomposition Methods. Mesh Smoothing. Discontinuity Meshing. Topological Data Structures and Operators. Alternatives to Meshing. Rendering: Reconstructing the Radiosity Functions. Interpolation Methods for Rendering. Two-Pass Methods. Incorporating Surface Detail. Mapping Radiosities to Pixel Colours. Colour. Summary. Extensions: Non-Diffuse Light Sources. Directional Reflection. Participating Media. Conclusion and Future Directions.