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Bull. Soc. Photogr. Imag. Japan. (2016) Vol. 26 No. 2: 18–22

General Papers

Real-time Rendering of Translucent Material by Contrast-Reversing Procedure
Ryota Domon(1)*1, Shoji Yamamoto(2), Kentaro Hikosaka(3), Norimichi Tsumura(1)Abstract:We present a rapid rendering procedure to reproduce the appearance of an object that includes translucent material. The conventional method of rendering the translucence of an object is difficult to implement in real time, since the translucency is accompanied bycomplicated light behavior such as scattering and absorption. To simplify this rendering process, we focus on the contrast-reversing
stimulant property in vision science. This property is based on the perception that we can recognize a luminance histogram compatible between scattering and absorption. According to this property, we propose a simple rendering method to reverse the light path
between reflection and transmission. Our method adopts an additional function for selecting a front or back scattering process in thecalculation of each pixel value. Because this improvement makes only slight alterations in the conventional reflection model, it can
reproduce a translucent appearance in real time while inheriting the advantages of various reflection models.

Key words: Translucency, Computer Graphics, Rendering

1. Introduction
Computer-aided reproduction such as digital mock-ups is a remarkable tool for design and development. This tool has the advantage of reproducing various features by changing the shape, color,and material properties of a trial product. When designers consider
configurations of a product, the transformation of the vertex position in computer graphics (CG) can realize the change of shape. The
control of the pixel color of a polygon can realize the change of appearance in a digital mock-up. This process is accompanied by intuitive judgment, and so a rendering engine is necessary to represent
the real appearance of products in real time for a digital mock-up. To
express the real appearance, many researchers have made an effort todevelop a reflection model in computer graphics. The Phong reflection model is a well-known equation that has parameters of diffuse
and specular reflections.1) This model can reproduce various appearances having a gloss or matte surface. More detailed formulations
and many parameters in the reflection model have been proposed toexpress accurate appearance. However, as the setting parameters of
the reflection model become more complex, rendering the appearance in real time becomes more difficult. A fast and realistic rendering engine for the reflection model is consequently desired for computer-aided reproduction. Furthermore, a rendering engine musthave the ability to reproduce a wide variety of appearances of materials such as glass and plastic. Such materials have characteristic appearances of transparency and translucency. The reproduction oftransparency is relatively easy to realize by adding Snell's Law andan absorption coefficient into conventional ray tracing. In contrast,
the reproduction of translucency requires calculating the light scattering process. Since light scattering generates the deflection of a ray
from a straight path by irregularities of the material medium, therendering process becomes more complex in multi-pass ray tracing.
Jensen et al. proposed the dipole approximation model to simplify
the calculation of scattering effects 2). This model can generate a realistic appearance of a translucent material in a short time. However,a simpler model for translucency is desired to reproduce a digital
mock-up in real time. Especially, mobile devices such as smartphone
and wearable devices have some mechanical or size of constraint
because these devices are preferred to be smaller. Even CPU or GPU
get higher performance and minimized, the rendering cost should
be low. Moreover, by considering the reality of reproduction,
three-dimensional reproduction would be better for appearance reproduction.
In this paper, we propose a rapid rendering procedure to reproduce the appearance of an object with translucent material. Based on
the contrast-reversing stimulant property in vision science, our proposed method can change the translucency of an object by using thereversal operation of diffuse reflectance. Our proposed method is a
simple way to control the translucent appearance while retaining
specular reflection and surface roughness in computer-aided reproduction.

Received: 29th, June 2016; Accepted: 13th, September 2016

(1)Graduate School of Advanced Integration Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan(2)Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology, 17-1, Minamisenju 8-chome, Arakawa, Tokyo, 116-0003, Japan(3)Nikon Corporation, Shinagawa Intercity Tower C, 2-15-3, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan*1 Present address: Nikon Corporation, Shinagawa Intercity Tower C, 2-15-3, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JapanRyota Domon, Shoji Yamamoto, Kentaro Hikosaka, Norimichi Tsumura

2. Related Work
A very useful reproduction technique in CG is evaluating the appearance of the final product by the process of digital mock-ups.
These reproductions are created by a rendering algorithm based ondichromatic reflection models, such as the Phong, Torrance-Sparrow, Ward, and Lafortune models 1)3)4)5). For example, the appearanceof gold material can be reproduced by setting the appropriate diffuse
and specular reflectance. Nevertheless, this rendering system also
needs to represent a wide variety of material properties, such astransparency and translucency.
Xiao et al. indicated that translucency depends on the lighting
direction and phase function, as shown in Fig. 1 6). This figure (Fig.
10 in their paper) shows the comparison between forward lightingof a translucent object and backward lighting of the same object. It
is apparent that the luminance of the reproduced object in Fig. 1(a)and Fig. 1(b) are in reversed conditions. To reproduce a realistic appearance, Ishimaru used a volumetric Monte Carlo path tracing
method based on the radiation transfer equation 7). Though this rendering method is sophisticated, the calculation cost of reproducing
the translucent object can be very high. In contrast, the skin image
reproduction method is enthusiastically studied because it can beapplied for many reproduction systems such as video games andmovie. Jensen et al. proposed the dipole diffusion model, which is anapproximation of scattering effects 2). This model is widely used because it can reproduce a translucent object in a short time comparedwith reproduction by Monte Carlo path tracing. The dipole approximation model can generate realistic skin images. Although thismethod achieved fast reproduction of skin image, it has difficulty
reproducing a translucent appearance with backward lighting because it is difficult for this method to take account for medium’s
thickness. d’Eon et al. proposed real time rendering method basedon the dipole approximation model and modified translucent shadow map method (TSM)8)9). TSM is one of the methods that cangenerates the translucent appearance with taking account for the
thickness of the medium. Those methods are very useful and practical; however, they mainly aim for the reproduction of the skin image.
Because the skin has a relatively complexed organization, the photon
propagation got more complexed. The objects with translucent appearance are not only skin but also wax, soap and so on.
Making a paradigm shift to rendering for translucency, we focus

on the image processing method proposed by Motoyoshi 10). He implied that simple image statistics or texture metrics are cues fortranslucency. He found that reversing the luminance histogram forreducing the RMS contrast of reproducing an image could represent
translucency. This property, based on visual perception, is very simple
image processing for reproducing a translucent object. Though thismethod does not consider a rendering algorithm and pipeline, his
idea provides us with useful knowledge. Our proposed method canrepresent translucency in real time based on contrast reversing.
Moreover, by adding the function that can select a front- orback-scattering process in the calculation of pixel values, we cancontrol the appearance by changing parameters flexibly. We also embed our idea in the rendering pipeline to verify our proposed method.

3. Method
3.1 Simplified Light Transport
We employ some parameters to describe the light transport phenomenon. In our proposed simplified light transport, the state of
scattering follows Kubelka-Munk single time scattering. Scatteringparameter s indicates the amount of scattered light and back-scattering weight w indicates the ratio of back-scattered light. Anotherparameter, absorption parameter a, describes the amount of absorbed light in the medium. Next, we explain simplified light transport. Fig. 2 shows the concept of simplified light transport. In thismethod, we assume that the object is sufficiently thin to transmit
through. First, incident light hits the object and enters the medium.
As the incident light passes through the medium, it is scattered andabsorbed. The effect of each light transport phenomenon is described by the following light transport parameters.
(1)
I backscatter = wsLi ,(2)
I frontscatter = (1 – w)sLi ,
(3)
I absorption = aLi ,
, where Li is the intensity of incident light. Because back-scattered
light and absorbed light will not pass through the medium, the intensity of transmitted light is determined from these components.
I transmit = Li – aLi – wsLi,(4)= (1 – a)Li – wsLi
In our simplification, we assume that the amount of back-scattered
light and front-scattered light is the same. Therefore, back-scattering
weight w is assumed to be 1/2. Each component is rewritten by using the value of w.

Back scattering(a)Figure 1(b) omparison between forward lighting and backward lighting: (a)C
Forward lighting; (b) Backward lighting

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Real-time Rendering of Translucent Material by Contrast-Reversing Procedure

wsLi

Front scattering(1 w)sLi

Absorption

aLiTransmission(1 a) Li wsLi

Figure 2

Li

Concept of simplified light transport

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Bull. Soc. Photogr. Imag. Japan. Vol. 26 No. 2 (2016)

I backscatter = 1/2sLi ,
I frontscatter = 1/2sLi ,
I transmit = (1–a)Li – 1/2sLi ,

(5)
(6)
(7)

3.2 Approximation in the Effect of Backlighting
Because translucency is effectively represented in the backward
lighting condition, the reproduction system requires considerationof the backward lighting effects. In this condition, the observed lightis transmitted light. Thus, the intensity of observed light in the backward lighting condition, Ibacklit, can be regarded as the transmitted
light component.
I backlit = Itransmit(8)= (1–a)Li – 1/2sLi
On the other hand, in the direct or front lighting condition, theobserved light is back-scattered light. Thus, the intensity of observed
light in the direct lighting condition, Idirectlit, is regarded as the
back-scattered light component.
I directlit = Ibackscatter(9)= 1/2sLi
Let us summarize the approximation of the backward lighting effect. We find the same terms in Eq. 8 and Eq. 9, and so Eq. 8 is rewritten as Eq. 10.
I backlit = (1–a)Li – I directlit(10)Eq. 10 indicates that the intensity of light in the backward lighting
condition is denoted by the intensity of light in the direct or front
lighting condition. We found that Eq. 10 can also explain contrast
reversing. The contrast-reversing method is similar to a simple negative-positive inversion, as is denoted in Eq. 11.
Output Value =1 – Input value,(11)where “Input value” is the pixel value of the original image and“Output value” is the pixel value of the processed image. Eq. 11 is thesimplest representation of contrast reversing. Eq. 10 and Eq. 11 also
have similar terms. If it is supposed that the absorption in the medium is negligibly small and the intensity of incident light is normalized (Li = 1), Eq. 10 can be rewritten as(12)Ibacklit =1 – Idirectlit .
Eq. 12 indicates that the contrast-reversing method is a kind of approximation of the backward lighting effect.

4. Implementation
Next, we apply our idea to a reflection model. Generally, the dichromatic reflection model has two terms to describe the light transport: diffuse reflectance and specular reflectance. Because this model
can represent various material appearances, it is difficult to apply theeffects of backward lighting to a practical CG reflection model.
However, the effects of backward lighting can be approximated byusing the effects of forward lighting, as derived in Eq. 4. Therefore,
we embed the idea of contrast-reversing image processing to ourreproduction system. Here, the rendering engine of our system employs Ward’s reflection model. Ward's reflection model is defined by
Eq. 13.
f (θi,φi,φo,φo)=

(

2
ρd
ρs
+
exp − tan δπ 4πa cosθi cosθo
α2

)

(13)

where θ and φ denote the polar and azimuthal angles of the incident and reflected light directions, respectively, α denotes spread of
the specular lobe (hereinafter referred to as roughness), and δ denotes the halfway vector between the incident and reflected directions. In Eq. 13, diffuse reflectance ρd, specular reflectance ρs, androughness α are controllable CG parameters in this research. Our
system employs OpenGL Shader Language (GLSL) to control therendering pipeline. As shown in Fig. 3, the output of rendering with
Ward’s reflection model is calculated by a pixel shader. This pixel
shader can calculate the sum of the three variable parameters of CG,
such as ambient light, diffuse reflectance, and specular reflectance inorder to determine each pixel value.
Eq. 14 explains the general processes calculated in the pixel shader.
output = ambient + diffuse + specular. .
(14)
The diffuse term calculated by OpenGL can be regarded as the caseof forward lighting. Therefore, the diffuse term can be assumed to be
the intensity of light, Idirectlit. As a result of embedding, contrast-reversing image processing can be applied to the reflection
model, as shown in Eq. 15.
output’ = ambient + (1 – diffuse) + specular.
(15)
Hereafter, we refer to the term (1 – diffuse) as “reversed diffuse reflectance”. Eq. 15 is used to reproduce the translucent material instead of Eq. 14. We examine this reproduction in the next section.

5. Verification of Our System
As mentioned in the above section, we propose a simple method
for reproducing translucent material. Based on the reflection model,
our method can represent various translucent appearances rapidly, as
well as the changes of gloss appearance. We used an Intel Core i7
processor with 8 GB memory, NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 and
WXGA 3D video projector DepthQ HD 3D for displaying thethree-dimensional reproduction. The geometry model is standard
bunny with 35947 vertices. We render the reproduction at 120
frames per second in accordance with the performance of projector.
We assume that speed of framerate is fast enough because it achieves
the sped of framerate of the video games and CG movies recently.
Therefore, our system achieves real-time rendering. Here, we evaluate our method against the conventional method by comparing thecapability for reproducing the translucent appearance of an object.
Fig. 3(a) shows the result of reproduction by using our system. Fig.

(a)
Figure 3(b) omparison of two ways of rendering: (a) Rendered image by ourCproposed method; (b) Rendered image by LightWave3D

Ryota Domon, Shoji Yamamoto, Kentaro Hikosaka, Norimichi Tsumura

3(b) shows the result of reproduction by using the "SSS2" algorithm
in LightWave 3D (NewTek, Inc). This rendering algorithm andsoftware are used by Motoyoshi and Nagai et al. to study translucency cues 10)11).
Though our system uses many approximations, appearances withtranslucent features, such as low contrast of the body and reverse of
the bright and dark area, are obtained in Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 3(b). The"SSS2" algorithm in LightWave3D has many parameters for changing the appearance of the reproduced object. The rendering takes
about 10 seconds. In contrast, our system easily controls the translucent appearance because we can change the appearance by replacing
the reversed diffuse reflectance, specular reflectance, and surface
roughness by performing keyboard operations. Moreover, the material appearance, including the opaque appearance, can be reproduced
in real time. Therefore, our system is obviously beneficial to existing
design tools.
A characteristic relationship is noticed between our method andFresnel equations. The edge of the transparent object looks brighter
due to the effects of Fresnel reflection. In contrast, the edge of theopaque object looks darker due to the effects of shading. Since oursystem employs the reversal operation of diffuse reflectance, this directly opposite phenomenon of the edge could be expressed as anintermediate link between shading and Fresnel equations. We assume that this expression leads us to translucent perception.
Let us next discuss the parameters of reproduction. Fig. 4(a) is adifferent case of reversed diffuse reflectance from Fig. 4(a), eventhough the specular reflectance and the surface roughness are considered to be the same. In the comparison of Fig. 4(a) to Fig. 3(a),the part of the body in Fig. 4(a) is darker and the part of the edge isbrighter, since reversed diffuse reflectance is increased. Nagai et al.
and Fleming and Bulthoff indicated that the edges or detail structure of objects with high contrast patterns contribute more to translucency than do other regions 11)12). Because our proposed system canchange specular reflectance, which is one of its advantages, we canconsider the effects of specular highlights on translucent material.
Fig. 4(b) shows a different surface roughness from Fig. 3(a), eventhough the reversed diffuse reflectance and the specular reflectancehave the same surface roughness. As the result of the comparison
between Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 4(b), these reproductions give us a different perception of the material. The rendered object in Fig. 3(a) looks(a)Figure 4

like jade and the rendered object in Fig. 4(b) looks like wax. The
difference between these images is only the surface roughness.

6. Discussion
Our proposed method can reproduce a translucent appearance
rapidly. Though this method uses many approximations, the difference between our reproduction system and LightWave3D is slight.
In addition, in comparison with dipole model approximation, oursystem reproduces translucency very rapidly. Therefore, our system isvery useful for digital mock-ups and other design tools. However,
our system has some limitations. In the construction of our method,
we assume that the thickness of the object is constant. Thus, it isdifficult for our system to reproduce material by accounting for the
thickness of an object. Moreover, though the phase function is a very
important factor for translucent material appearance, our method
regards this as isotropic scattering. The lighting direction is also limited in our system. Oblique lighting causes unnatural reproduction
because our method is constructed by limiting the point of view ofthe observer and the light source position. Background color of reproduction is also important. In our proposed method, we reproduce
the translucent material in black background. If we change the background color, relationships between bright area and dark area arereversed and it means the collapse of contrast reversing method. To
adopt with this problem, we must take account for the backgroundcolor like other previous methods. We evaluate an image statistic to
describe the translucency. Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b) show the translucent object and the opaque object, respectively, reproduced by oursystem. These reproduced objects have the same values except for the
non-specular component. Luminance histograms of these images
are shown in Fig. 6. The red bin is the histogram of Fig. 5(a) and theblue bin is the histogram of Fig. 5(b). It is apparent that the distribution of the histograms is narrower when the reproduced image
has translucency. In other words, the image of a translucent object
has less RMS contrast, as indicated by Motoyoshi10). Therefore, ourproposed system can represent the characteristics of the translucent
image. Other “simple” statistical characteristics, such as skewness
and variance, also fail to describe translucency.
We realize that specular reflection contributes to translucent material perception. Some previous works indicate that specular high-

(a)

(b)

 esult of our proposed method with different parameters: (a)R
Rendered image by changing reversed diffuse reflectance; (b)Rendered image by changing surface roughness

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Real-time Rendering of Translucent Material by Contrast-Reversing Procedure

Figure 5(b) omparison of translucent rendering and opaque rendering: (a)C
Rendered image by contrast reversing rendering; (b) Rendered
image by using Ward model.

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Bull. Soc. Photogr. Imag. Japan. Vol. 26 No. 2 (2016)

Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, Japan Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, 24500267, and Brain and Information Science on
SHITSUKAN, 25135707.

References
1)

Figure 6

Histogram of Fig.5

lights are important for natural translucency12). The shape of specular
highlights, such as strong and sharp or weak and dull, is not fully
examined. Since our proposed method retains the highlights, theeffects of specular highlights on translucency can be investigated byreferring to the numerical formulation proposed by Pellacini et al.13).

7. Conclusion and Future WorkIn this paper, we present a fast rendering method available for
digital mock-ups. By applying the contrast-reversing idea to the dichromatic reflection model, our system can produce a realistic translucent appearance rapidly compared to previous works and commercial software. Though our method has some limitations, fast
reproduction and maneuverable keyboard operations are very usefulfor material designing tools such as digital mock-ups. In this work,
we defined some parameters to approximate the complicated lightbehavior of a translucent object. To obtain more suitable results ofreproduction for practical use, these parameters should be verified
experimentally.
We also realize the effects of various changes of specular highlights on translucent material perception. The effects of specular
highlights could be a controversial issue for translucent material perception. From a practical point of view, we need to investigate therelationships between the appearance of objects and the reproduction parameters, including specular reflectance and surface roughness. This investigation would be useful in material design applications in order to reproduce existing materials efficiently.

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