Light animation with precomputed light paths on the GPU

This paper presents a real-time global illumination method for static scenes illuminated by arbitrary, dynamic light sources. The algorithm obtains the indirect illumination caused by the multiple scattering of the light from precomputed light paths. The indirect illumination due to the precomputed light paths is stored in texture maps. Texture based representations allow the GPU to render the scene with global illumination effects at high frame rates even when the camera or the lights move. The proposed method requires moderate preprocessing time and can also work well for small light sources that are close to the surface. The implemented version considers only diffuse reflections. The method scales up very well for complex scenes and storage space can be traded for high frequency details in the indirect illumination. CR Categories: I.3.7 [Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism]