Participating Media for High-Fidelity Cultural Heritage

Computer graphics, and in particular high-fidelity rendering, make it possible to recreate cultural heritage on a computer, including a precise lighting simulation. Achieving maximum accuracy is of the highest importance when investigating how a site might have appeared in the past. Failure to use such high fidelity means there is a very real danger of misrepresenting the past. Although we can accurately simulate the propagation of light in the environment, little work has been undertaken into the effect that light scattering due to participating media has on the perception of the site. In this paper we investigate how the appearance of the interior of the ancient Egyptian Temple of Kalabsha is affected when including dust in the simulation. Given that the sun was a key feature of Egyptian religion, the correct perception of the sun rays entering the temple and being scattered by the dust may be important for a better comprehension of that culture.