Patent ID: 7515151
Filing Date: 2009-04-07
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for generating a pixel value for an image using a selected ray-tracing methodology in which simulated rays are shot from the pixel into a scene, the simulated rays representing paths of simulated photons, the pixel value being representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera, the method being executable by a computer processor of a computer graphics system to enable the computer graphics system to generate a displayable image using the selected ray-tracing methodology, the computer processor comprising computer hardware elements, the method comprising: A. for a query point “x” in the scene, and a selected number “k” of photons, generating, in the computer processor, a set of “M” subdomains D B. identifying, in the computer processor, the subset P of subdomains which contain a point x where x i|D refers to a position of photon “i” projected onto the disk D along its angle of incidence ω i ; C. generating, in the computer processor, an area value A according to where |P| refers to the number of sub-domains in the subset P; and D. generating, in the computer processor, a radiance value along selected angle ω in accordance with, where Φ i represents the energy of the “i-th” photon.