The Magic of Computer Graphics: Rendering

Computer graphics is a vast field that is becoming larger every day. It is impossible to cover every topic of interest, even within a specialization such as CG rendering. For many years, Noriko Kurachi has reported on the latest developments for Japanese readers in her monthly column for CG World. Being something of a pioneer herself, she selected topics that represented original and promising new directions for research. Many of these novel ideas are the topics covered in The Magic of Computer Graphics.

Starting from the basic behavior of light, the first section of the book introduces the most useful techniques for global and local illumination using geometric descriptions of an environment. The second section goes on to describe image-based techniques that rely on captured data to do their magic. In the final section, the author looks at the synthesis of these two complementary approaches and what they mean for the future of computer graphics.

Geometry-Based Approaches
Introduction to Photorealistic Rendering
Physical Quantities of Light
Modeling the Behavior of Light
Structure of Rendering
Global Illumination
The RenderingEquation and Its Solutions
The Radiosity Method
Monte Carlo Ray and Path Tracing
Photon Mapping
Programmable Graphics Hardware and G
Volume Rendering and Participating Media
Volume Visualization Techniques
Volume Rendering
Participating Media
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Scattering
Modeling Subsurface Scattering
BSSRDF Models
Recent Progress in Subsurface Scattering

Image-Based Approaches
Image-Based Rendering
Stereo
Image Warping
Image-Based Modeling and Rendering
The Light Field
High Dynamic Range Imaging
Response Curves and HDR Imaging
HDR File Formats
HDR Video
Image-Based Lighting
The Basics of Image-Based Lighting
Environment Maps and IBL

Coalescence of Geometry-Based and Image-Based Approaches
Reconstruction of Reflectance
BRDF Models
The Reflectance Field
Separation of Direct and Global Illumination
Reflectance of Hair
Multiple Scattering in Hair
Recovering Details of Hair
Bidirectional Texture Function
Origin of BTFs
BTF Synthesis
BTF Models
Radiance Transfer
PRT Fundamentals
Advancing Radiance Transfer
PRT and Dynamic Simulation
Precomputed Acoustic Transfer
Precomputed Radiance Transfer in Movies