Filtered Importance Sampling

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abstract High-fidelity real-time visualization of surfaces under high-dynamic-range (HDR) image-based illumination provides an invaluable resource for various computer graphics applications. Material design, lighting design, architectural previsualization, and gaming are just a few such applications. Environment map prefiltering techniques, plus other frequency space solutions using wavelets or spherical harmonics, provide real-time visualizations. However, their use may be too cumbersome because they require a hefty amount of precomputation or a sizable code base for glossy surface reflections. As an alternative, we present a technique for image-based lighting of glossy objects using a Monte Carlo quadrature that requires minimal precomputation and operates within a single GPU shader, thereby fitting easily into almost any production pipeline requiring real-time dynamically changing materials or lighting.

people

• Mark Colbert
• Jaroslav Krivanek

publications

• Mark Colbert and Jaroslav Krivanek. GPU-based Importance Sampling, Chapter 20, GPU Gems 3.
• Mark Colbert and Jaroslav Krivanek. Real-time Shading with Filtered Importance Sampling, SIGGRAPH 2007 Sketch.

presentations

• SIGGRAPH Sketch [PPT (7.3 MB)]
• Intel Presentation [PPT (8 MB)]

video

• Video (DivX/20 MB) - Demonstration of editing spatially varying and homogeneous materials using our simple material design interface. The interface uses Lafortune et al.'s model to define the underlying material. For efficiency, we use the GPU to perform all painting operations.