TAPESTRY: The Art of Representation and Abstraction
Radiosity and Raytracing
Reflection and Color Bleed?
Raytracing represents the quintessence of reflection, but ignores diffuse reflections. Radiosity does a good diffuse simulation, but ignores specular reflections. An approach that somehow merged the two effects would be highly desirable.The key to understanding how to perform this magic is to remember that radiosity algorithms tell you the intensity of light at various points on the surface of the model. In essense, they tell you the color. If we used this as a surface texture map, and then performed a raytracing calculation on the results, we'd have a rendering which displayed both specular and diffuse lighting effects.
Bingo!
Note, however, that it's still not "real". A prism placed in front of a light won't generate a spectrum on the wall in this world.
Last updated: April, 2014
