Diffusion Based Photon Mapping

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Density estimation employed in multi-pass global illumination algorithms give cause to a trade-off problem between bias and noise. The problem is seen most evident as blurring of strong illumination features. In particular, this blurring erodes fine structures and sharp lines prominent in caustics. To address this problem, we introduce a photon mapping algorithm based on nonlinear anisotropic diffusion. Our algorithm adapts according to the structure of the photon map such that smoothing occurs along edges and structures and not across. In this way, we preserve important illumination features, while eliminating noise. We demonstrate the applicability of our algorithm through a series of tests. In the tests, we evaluate the visual and computational performance of our algorithm comparing it to existing popular algorithms.

Udgivelsesdato: December
Original languageEnglish
JournalComputer Graphics Forum
Volume27
Issue number8
Pages (from-to)2114-2127
Number of pages13
ISSN0167-7055
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008

ID: 8805419