Patent ID: 7940269

Claim:
A method for rendering an inhomogeneous scattering medium with an object surface immersed therein, both illuminated by a light source, wherein the inhomogeneous scattering medium has a density field at least approximately represented by a weighted sum of a set of radial basis functions (RBFs) each having a RBF center, the method comprising: under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions, for each pixel corresponding to a viewpoint v and a view ray {circumflex over (r)} projecting to a screen space and intersecting at a surface point p on the object surface, computing an exitant radiance L p contributed by surface reflectance of the light source at the surface point p, wherein the exitant radiance L p is computed as a function of a total incident illumination L p in-tot , a visibility V p of a distant environment at the surface point p, the visibility V p of the distant environment at the surface point p comprising a visibility of the distant environment due to a presence of scene occlusion and independent of the inhomogeneous scattering medium, and a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) B pv assuming p is being viewed from a viewpoint v, and computing an attenuated radiance arriving at the viewpoint v through the inhomogeneous scattering medium based on the exitant radiance L p ; and rendering an image of the inhomogeneous scattering medium and the object surface at least partially based on the attenuated radiance of each pixel.