Shade trees

Abstract

Shading is an important part of computer imagery, but shaders have been based on fixed models to which all surfaces must conform. As computer imagery becomes more sophisticated, surfaces have more complex shading characteristics and thus require a less rigid shading model. This paper presents a flexible tree-structured shading model that can represent a wide range of shading characteristics. The model provides an easy means for specifying complex shading characteristics. It is also efficient because it can tailor the shading calculations to each type of surface.