Global Illumination and Caustics using Photon Mapping
Introduction
This second raytracer is the result of the second assignment of the course "3D Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality. This time we were (almost) free to choose a subject. Like the previous assignment, I worked together with Jaap and we chose to create a raytracer and implement photon mapping. It didn't become as cool or advanced as we envisioned; mainly due to a three week vacaction I scheduled exactly during the four weeks we had...
(This page is under construction, I hope to add more text and images someday)
Global Illumination
Only direct lighting. Altough the ceiling is white, it is unlit as no light is reflected back.
Multiple light paths. Now the ceiling is lit by light reflected by the scene under it. Note its reddish and greenish color (color bleeding).
Caustics
Including caustics. The small spot on the left wall is due to light reflected by the metal sphere being refracted by the glass sphere.
Filtering the Radiance Estimate
Gaterhing photons using a sphere results in 'false' photons in the corners.
Gaterhing photons using a disc reduces the false photons, but has problems with curved surfaces (not visible here).
