Assignment 3: Ray Tracing, Radiosity, & Photon Mapping

The goal of this assignment is to implement pieces of three different rendering methods that can be used to capture important rendering effects including reflection, color bleeding, and caustics. These different rendering methods are implemented within a single interactive OpenGL viewer similar to previous assignments to help with visualization and debugging. Furthermore, since they are implemented in the same system, hybrid renderings that capture combinations are possible.

Tasks

• First, download and compile the provided files. Run the program using the sample command lines below. Press 'r' to initiate a ray tracing from the current camera position. The image will appear in the OpenGL window initially as a coarse rendering that is progressively refined. If you use the mouse to change the camera position, the raytracing will stop -- but the "image plane" with the raytracing result will still be visible in the scene. If you press 'c' this will clear the last raytracing image plane result. Press 'q' to quit.

  Initially, you will only see the ground plane -- that's because the sphere intersection routine has not been implemented! This is your first task. You'll have to do a little work beyond our discussion in class to handle spheres that are not centered at the origin. Note that our OpenGL rendering first converts the spheres to quads, but the original spheres should be used for ray tracing intersection.

• Your next task is to extend this basic ray caster to include shadow rays and recursive reflective rays. Continue to poke around in the system to see how the RayTracer::TraceRay and RayTracer::CastRay functions are implemented and used. Note that all lights in this system are area light sources (quad patches with a non-zero emissive color). If only one shadow sample is specified, simply cast a ray to the center of each area light patch.

  Use the ray tree visualization to debug your recursive rays. When 't' is pressed, a ray is traced into the scene through the pixel under the mouse cursor. You will have to add calls to RayTree::AddShadowSegment and RayTree::AddReflectiveSegment in your recursive raytracing code. The initial main/camera/eye ray is drawn in white, reflective rays are drawn in red, and shadow rays (traced from each intersection to the lights) are drawn in green.

  ./render -input ../src/reflective_spheres.obj 
  ./render -input ../src/reflective_spheres.obj -num_bounces 1
  ./render -input ../src/reflective_spheres.obj -num_bounces 3 -num_shadow_samples 1 
  

  

• Next, let's implement a couple of the features of distribution ray tracing: soft shadows and antialiasing. For soft shadows you will cast multiple shadow rays to a random selection of points on the light source. For antialiasing, you will cast multiple rays from the eye through the pixel on the image plane. In your README.txt discuss how you generated those random points (on the light source and within the pixel).

  For extra credit, you can implement different strategies for selecting these random points (e.g., stratified sampling or jittered samples) and discuss in your README.txt the performance/quality tradeoffs. Also, for extra credit you can implement other effects using distribution ray tracing such as glossy surfaces, motion blur, or depth of field.

  ./render -input ../src/textured_plane_reflective_sphere.obj -num_bounces 1 -num_shadow_samples 1
  ./render -input ../src/textured_plane_reflective_sphere.obj -num_bounces 1 -num_shadow_samples 4
  ./render -input ../src/textured_plane_reflective_sphere.obj -num_bounces 1 -num_shadow_samples 9 -num_antialias_samples 9
  

  

• Next we move on to radiosity. These test scenes are closed, inward-facing models. Thus, the viewer is configured to cull (make invisible) "back-facing" polygons (press 'b' to toggle this option). Press 'v' to toggle between the different visualization modes: MATERIALS (the default simple shading using the diffuse color of each material), RADIANCE (the reflected light from each surface), FORM_FACTORS (the patch with the greatest undistributed light is outlined in red when wireframe is enabled and the relative form factors with every other patch are displayed in shades of grey), LIGHTS (which patches are emitters), UNDISTRIBUTED (the light received by each patch which has not been distributed or absorbed), and ABSORBED (the light received and absorbed by each patch).

  Press 'w' to view the wireframe. The quad mesh model is stored in a half edge data structure similar to assignment 1. Press 's' to subdivide the scene. Each quad will be split into 4 quads. Press 'i' to blend or interpolate the radiosity values. Press the space bar to make one iteration of the radiosity solver, press 'a' to animate the solver (many iterations), and press 'c' to reset the radiosity solution. The images below show various visualizations of the classic Cornell box scene.

  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box.obj
  

  
  

  The top row of images shows: the MATERIALS, with wireframe after 2 subdivisions, the RADIANCE after allowing the top 16 patches to shoot their light in the scene, the RADIANCE after many iterations (near convergence), and the smooth interpolation of those values. The bottom row shows: the FORM FACTORS from a patch on the left wall (outlined in red) to all other patches in the scene, the ABSORBED light after light shooting from the top 16 patches, and ABSORBED light after many iterations, and a visualization of the UNDISTRIBUTED light after the top 5 patches have shot their light into the scene.

  Your task is to implement the form factor computation and the radiosity solver. You can choose any method we discussed in class or read about in various radiosity references. For the Cornell box scene you do not need to worry about visibility (occlusions). In your README.txt file, discuss the performance quality tradeoffs between the number of patches and the complexity of computing a single form factor.

• All non-convex scenes require visibility/occlusion computation for the form factors. In the simple scene below, light from the left wall should not directly reach the deep wall on the right half of the image. Use the RayTracer::CastRay to incorporate visibility into the form factor computation when the number of shadow rays is > 0. The middle row shows an incorrect simulation of the scene that does not test for visibility between patches. The last three images show the scene with visibility correctly accounted for. Comment on the order notation of the brute force algorithm in your README.txt file. Note that the mesh stores both the subdivided quads and the original quads. Checking for occlusion with the original quads will improve the running time. For extra credit, implement additional accelerations for the visibility computation.

  ./render -size 300 150 -input ../src/l.obj 
  ./render -size 300 150 -input ../src/l.obj -num_form_factor_samples 100
  ./render -size 300 150 -input ../src/l.obj -num_shadow_samples 1 
  ./render -size 300 150 -input ../src/l.obj -num_form_factor_samples 10 -num_shadow_samples 1 
  

  
  
  

  Here is another test scene that requires visibility in the form factor computation:

  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -sphere_rasterization 16 12
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -sphere_rasterization 16 12 -num_shadow_samples 1
  

  
  
  

  The same scene rendered using ray tracing is too dark. Even when we approximate global illumination using an ambient term, the scene is missing the characteristic color bleeding.

  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -ambient_light 0.0 0.0 0.0
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -ambient_light 0.0 0.0 0.0 -num_shadow_samples 1
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -ambient_light 0.2 0.2 0.2 -num_shadow_samples 1
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -ambient_light 0.2 0.2 0.2 -num_shadow_samples 10 
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -ambient_light 0.2 0.2 0.2 -num_shadow_samples 100 
  

  
  

• The third piece of this homework assignment is to use photon mapping to capture caustics -- the concentration of light due to specular reflection (or similarly, by refraction). Our primary example will be the heart-shaped caustic created when light is reflected off the interior of a shiny cylindrical metal ring.

  The first step is to trace photons into the scene. Press 'p' to call your code which will trace the specified number of photons throughout the scene. When a photon hits a surface, the photon's energy and incoming direction are recorded. Depending on the material properties of the surface, the photon will be recursively traced in the mirror direction (for reflective materials) or a random direction (for diffuse materials) or terminated. Don't forget to multiply by the diffuse or reflective colors to decrease the energy of the photon appropriately. How do you decide when to stop bouncing the photons?

  A visualization of the photon hits is provided in the PhotonMapping class (shown below left). Press 'l' to toggle the rendering of the photons. A KD-tree spatial data structure is also provided to store the photons where they hit, which will allow you to quickly collect all points within a query boundary box. Press 'k' to toggle the rendering of the kdtree wireframe visualization.

  The second step is to extend your ray tracing implementation to search for the k closest photons to the hit point. The energy and incoming direction of each photon is accumulated (according the the surface reflectance properties) to determine how much additional light is reflected to the camera (added to the raytracing result instead of the traditional "ambient" lighting hack). To trigger raytracing with photon gathering, press 'g'. The third image below is a traditional recursive raytracing of the scene. The rightmost image adds in the energy from the photon map to capture the heart-shaped caustic.

  ./render -input ../src/reflective_ring.obj -num_photons_to_shoot 10000 -num_bounces 2 -num_shadow_samples 10
  ./render -input ../src/reflective_ring.obj -num_photons_to_shoot 500000 -num_bounces 2 -num_shadow_samples 10 -num_antialias_samples 4
  

  

• Photon mapping can also enable the raytracer to capture diffuse global illumination effects such as color bleeding. However, a large number of photons is required to capture these subtle effects without significant noise or "splotchy" artifacts. Note: Extending the basic mechanism of photon mapping with irradiance caching will greatly improve the performance (which would certainly be worth extra credit!).

  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_diffuse_sphere.obj -num_photons_to_shoot 500000 -num_shadow_samples 500 -num_photons_to_collect 500 
  ./render -input ../src/cornell_box_reflective_sphere.obj -num_photons_to_shoot 500000 -num_shadow_samples 500 -num_photons_to_collect 500 -num_bounces 1
  

  

Other Ideas for Extra Credit

Include a short paragraph in your README.txt file describing your extensions.

• Implement refraction or glossy reflections for traditional recursive ray tracing.

• Implement a "smart" subdivision scheme for radiosity to refine the mesh in areas with a high radiance gradient.

• Implement progressive radiosity with an ambient term to render the undistributed illumination. This rendering is particularly useful when paired with incremental form factor computation.

• Compute the penumbra and umbra regions of an area light source for discontinuity meshing in radiosity, etc.

• Save the raytracing results directly to a file to speed up the rendering process (the interactive pixel-by-pixel OpenGL rendering is useful for debugging, but quite slow). A simple image class is included with the provided files.

• Improve the performance of the rendering system. Use a code profiling tool and/or analyze the order notation of the algorithms before and after your improvements and the running times. Document your findings in your README.txt file.

• Implement irradiance caching with your photon mapping code.

• Implement refraction in your photon tracing code to render caustics from transparent objects.

• Create an interesting new test scene or visualization.

• Implement other recursive ray tracing or distributed ray tracing effects. Include sample command lines to demonstrate your new features.

Include sample images with your submission (since we will not have time for long runs while grading).

Provided Files

version 2: hw3_files_v2.zip, removed strcmp

if needed... version 1: hw3_files_v1.zip

NOTE: If you are using GLUT instead of GLFW/GLEW/GLM, see last year's page & last year's code.