| Global Illumination |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT GLOBAL ILLUMINATION | |
| 3d computer graphics | |
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Images rendered using global illumination algorithms are more photorealistic than images rendered using local illumination algorithms. However, they are also much slower and more computationally expensive. A common approach is to compute the global illumination of a scene and store that information with the geometry (ie. radiosity). That stored data can then be used to generate images from different viewpoints for generating walkthroughs of a scene without having to go through expensive lighting calculations. Radiosity , Ray Tracing , Beam Tracing , Cone Tracing , Path Tracing , Metropolis Light Transport and Photon Mapping are examples of algorithms used in global illumination, some of which may be used together. These algorithms model Diffuse Inter-reflection which is a very important part of global illumination, however most of these (excluding radiosity) also model Specular Inter-reflection too which makes them more accurate algorithms to solve the lighting equation and provide a more realistic globally illuminated scene. The algorithms used to calculate the distribution of light energy between surfaces of a scene are closely related to Heat Transfer simulations performed using Finite-element methods in engineering design. In real-time 3D graphics, global illumination is sometimes approximated by an "ambient" term in the lighting equation. SEE ALSO
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