A radiosity method for non-diffuse environments

Abstract

A general radiosity method accounting for all interreflections of light between diffuse and nondiffuse surfaces in complex environments is introduced. As contrasted with previous radiosity methods, surfaces are no longer required to be perfectly diffuse reflectors and emitters. A complete, viewer independent description of the light leaving each surface in each direction is computed, allowing dynamic sequences of images to be rendered with little additional computation per image. Phenomena such as "reflection tracking", reflections following a moving observer across a specular surface are produced. Secondary light sources, such as the light from a spotlight reflecting off a mirror onto a wall are also accounted for.