The path to path-traced movies
By: Per H. Christensen, Wojciech Jarosz
Contributors: Jarosz, Wojciech, author; Now Publishers
Series: Foundations and trends in computer graphics and vision -- volume 10, issue 2, pages 103-175; Foundations and trends in computer graphics and vision -- volume 10, issue 2, pages 103-175.
Publisher: Now Publishers
Published: 2016
Place of publication: [Hanover, Massachusetts]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 175
ISBN-13: 9781680832112; 9781680832105
Subjects: Ray tracing algorithms; Computer animation; Lighting; Data processing; Lancer de rayons; Animation par ordinateur; Éclairage; Informatique; Computer vision; COMPUTERS / Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition; Computer graphics; Light; Computer simulation; Rendering (Computer graphics)
Description: Path tracing is one of several techniques to render photorealistic images by simulating the physics of light propagation within a scene. The roots of path tracing are outside of computer graphics, in the Monte Carlo simulations developed for neutron transport. A great strength of path tracing is that it is conceptually, mathematically, and often-times algorithmically simple and elegant, yet it is very general. Until recently, however, brute-force path tracing techniques were simply too noisy and slow to be practical for movie production rendering. They therefore received little usage outside of academia, except perhaps to generate an occasional reference image to validate the correctness of other (faster but less general) rendering algorithms. The last ten years have seen a dramatic shift in this balance, and path tracing techniques are now widely used. This shift was partially fueled by steadily increasing computational power and memory, but also by significant improvements in sampling, rendering, and denoising techniques. In this survey, we provide an overview of path tracing and highlight important milestones in its development that have led to it becoming the preferred movie rendering technique today.
Notes: 1. Introduction

7. Why path tracing and why now?

Title from PDF (viewed on April 4, 2017).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-175).

Google Scholar

Google Book Search

INSPEC

Scopus

ACM Computing Guide

DBLP Computer Science Bibliography

Zentralblatt MATH Database

AMS MathSciNet

ACM Computing Reviews

Per H. Christensen and Wojciech Jarosz (2016), "The Path to Path-Traced Movies", Foundations and Trends in Computer Graphics and Vision: Vol. 10: No. 2, pp 103-175.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Illumination; title: Path tracing; title: Other rendering techniques: a retrospective; title: Advanced path tracing; title: Enabling technology; title: Why path tracing and why now?; title: Extensions and challenges; title: Discussion and conclusion; title: Acknowledgements; title: References.