Illumination networks: fast realistic rendering with general reflectance functions

We present a technique for modeling global illumination which allows a wide variety of reflectance functions. Scene coherence is exploited in a preprocessing step in which the geometry is analyzed using iterative techniques. Memory is traded for speed, in anticipation of the high memory capacities of workstations of the future. The algorithm operates well over a wide range of time and image quality constraints: realistic results may be produced very quickly while very accurate results require more time and space. The method can be extended for animation and parallelization.