Volumetric Global Illumination and Reconstruction via Energy Backprojection

Volumetric energy backprojection captures the effects of myriad physical processes including global illumination and reconstruction. We present a method to perform efficient volumetric backprojection in software. We develop a new method for global illumination based on iterated volumetric backprojection. We demonstrate how computed tomography and visible light reconstruction can be implemented using volumetric backprojection. Our new form of opaque reconstruction is insensitive to shading and includes the partial volume effect. Finally, we suggest small modifications to volume rendering hardware which permits efficient, scalable volumetric backprojection. CR Categories: I.3.1 [Computer Graphics]: Hardware Architecture; I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/Image Generation; I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Computational Geometry and Object Modeling—; I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism—; I.4.5 [Image Processing and Computer Vision]: Reconstruction;