Patent ID: 7940268

Claim:
A method for rendering an inhomogeneous scattering medium, wherein the inhomogeneous scattering medium is illuminated by a light source and has a density field which can be 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, (a) for each RBF, computing an airlight contribution to a pixel corresponding to a viewpoint v and a view ray {circumflex over (r)} projecting to a screen space, the airlight contribution being a function of optical depth between the viewpoint v and the respective RBF center, optical depth between the light source and the respective RBF center, and optical depth between the viewpoint v and a first surface point p intersecting the view ray {circumflex over (r)} casting from the viewpoint v; (b) for each RBF, accumulating airlight contribution toward a total airlight of the pixel; and (c) rendering an image of the inhomogeneous scattering medium at least partially based on the total airlight of each pixel.