Favorite GI algorithm

[pat777]

I like photon mapping. It looks great

 

[Nexiss]

A nitpick, but ray tracing doesn't really qualify as GI algorithm.

Anyway, Photon Mapping works nicely.

 

[LeGreg]

Any algorithm that simulates a surface obscured by another one
is what I would call "global illumination".

Of course that's only me.

 

[Reverend]

This is a great topic/poll, something that has interested me as a gamer forever. More important than what I prefer is what the devs think about this... I'll shoot some emails.

 

[Nexiss]

Well, then why don't I call a Radeon x800 a global illumination renderer?

I tend to define ray tracing as simply the tracing of a ray through a scene. It by itself doesn't get you global illumination per se. It is a tool; for example, when you are building a photon map you are tracing rays through the scene (or "ray tracing").

 

[Tom Nuydens]

Although it's utterly fake and doesn't really qualify as "true" GI, I'm kind of fond of ambient occlusion. It's fast, simple, and easily combined with dynamic lighting.

 

[Quitch]

Any chance of getting some comparable examples in here?

 

[Bludd]

Any chance of getting some comparable examples in here?

Indeed. I'd like to see some too.

 

[Reverend]

Any chance of getting some comparable examples in here?

Try looking at the following :

Path Tracing
Photon Mapping
Ray Tracing
Radiosity

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

Nice pics of photon maped scenes:
http://graphics.ucsd.edu/~henrik/papers/ewr7/

 

[pat777]

I think path-tracing looks great but it's too damn slow from what I've seen. Photon mapping looks good and is a lot faster than path-tracing.

 

[DeanoC]

Not strictly GI but still my favorite is

"Triple Product Wavelet Integrals for All-Frequency Relighting"

 

[wEvil]

I like photon mapping with a final gather pass a la Mental Ray

 

[Sage]

I like photon mapping with a final gather pass a la Mental Ray

thats what i was gonna say Final Gathering is spectacular when everything is set up right.

 

[MfA]

AFAICS with traditional photon mapping in say outdoor scenes most of the photons will be wasted, not a very general solution.

 

[pat777]

What about light-tracing/particle-tracing? I think that comes from the potential equation.

 

[PatrickL]

Any of you tested that software yet ?

 

[pat777]

Any of you tested that software yet ?

All they need is some good anti-aliasing and it'll look photorealistic.

BTW, what's the difference between the radiance equation and the potential equation in terms of IQ?

http://www.eg.org/EG/CGF/Volume12/issue2/v12i2pp131-136_abstract.html

 

[Quitch]

What this thread needs is one image, rendered using every technique (and displayed here in PNG format), complete with a time-to-render next to it. Now THAT would be useful

I suspect that's a rather impractical request, however

 

[pat777]

Can bi-directional path tracing calculate subsurface light scattering?