Patent ID: 7536047
Filing Date: 2009-05-19
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method for rendering a digital object, the method comprising: receiving information defining a digital object, wherein the digital object comprises a computer-generated three-dimensional surface geometry to be rendered to produce an appearance of translucent skin material, and wherein the information is sufficient for defining modeled light reflected from the surface geometry of the digital object in a modeled light environment; generating, using a simple reflectance model, a two-dimensional light intensity matrix representing diffuse reflection from a modeled color-neutral surface of the digital object in the modeled light environment exclusive of sub-surface scattering effects, each matrix entry being a lumel representing a modeled light intensity correlated to a mapped unique surface element of the digital object, using a processor; blurring the light intensity matrix, thereby producing a blurred matrix; and rendering the digital object, using matrix entries from the blurred matrix to determine pixel intensity values for the digital object combined with a color map representing specular surface reflection from a modeled non-neutral surface of the digital object in the modeled light environment, to produce an appearance simulating subsurface scattering in the translucent skin material.