Skip to main content
Log in

A Monte Carlo approach for Galerkin radiosity

  • Original Articles
  • Published:
The Visual Computer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Galerkin radiosity solves the integral rendering equation by projecting the illumination functions into a set of higher-order basis functions. This paper presents a Monte Carlo approach for Galerkin radiosity to compute the coefficients of the basis functions. The new approach eliminates the problems with edge singularities between adjacent surfaces present in conventional Galerkin radiosity, the time complexity is reduced fromO(K 4) toO(K 2) for aK-order basis, and ideally specular energy transport can be simulated. As in conventional Galerkin radiosity, no meshing is required even for large or curved surfaces, thus reducing memory requirements, and no a posteriori Gouraud interpolation is necessary. The new algorithm is simple and can be parallelized on any parallel computer, including massively parallel systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arvo J, Kirk D (1990) Particle transport and image synthesis. Comput Graph 24:63–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Arvo J, Torrance K, Smits B (1994) A framework for the analysis of error in global illumination algorithms. Comput Graph (Annual Conference Series) pp 75–84

  • Cohen M, Greenberg D, Immel D, Brock P (1986) An efficient radiosity approach for realistic image synthesis. IEEE Comput Graph Appl 6:26–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen M, Chen S, Wallace J, Greenberg D (1988) A progressive refinement approach for fast radiosity image generation. Comput Graph 22:75–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen M, Wallace J (1993) Radiosity and realistic image synthesis. Academic Press Professional, Cambridge London San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook R (1986) Stochastic sampling in computer graphics. ACM Trans Graph 5:51–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Feda M, Purgathofer W (1994a) A median cut algorithm for efficient sampling of radiosity functions. Comput Graph Forum 13:433–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Feda M, Purgathofer W (1994b) Efficient realistic image synthesis by parallel Monte Carlo radiosity on transputers. Transputer Applications and Systems '94 (Proceedings of World Transputer Congress '94), IOS Press, pp 54–62

  • Gershbein R (1995) Integration methods for Galerkin radiosity couplings. Rendering Techniques '95. Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Dublin, Springer, Vienna New York, pp 264–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Glassner A (1989) An introduction to ray tracing. Academic Press, London San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Goral C, Torrance K, Greenberg D, Battaile B (1984) Modeling the interaction of light between diffuse surfaces. Comput Graph 18:213–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Gortler S, Schröder P, Cohen M, Hanrahan P (1993) Wavelet radiosity. Comput Graph (Annual Conference Series) 15:221–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckbert P (1991) Simulating global illumination using adaptive meshing. PhD Thesis Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Technical Report UCB/CSD 91/636

  • Heckbert P (1992a) Discontinuity meshing for radiosity. Proceedings of the 3rd Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Bristol, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 203–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckbert P (1992b) Radiosity in flatland. Proceedings of Eurographics '92, Comput Graph Forun 11:181–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Kajiya J (1986) The rendering equation. Comput Graph 20:143–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalos M, Whitlock P (1986) Monte Carlo Methods, vol 1, Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk J, Arvo J (1991) Unbiased variance reduction for global illumination. Proceedings of the 2nd Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Barcelona. Photorealistic Rendering in Computer Graphics, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1994), pp 45–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Max N, Allison M (1992) Linear radiosity approximation using vertex-to-vertex form factors. In: Kirk D (ed) Graphics Gems III. Academic Press Cambridge London San Diego, pp 318–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudur S, Pattanaik S (1993) Monte Carlo methods for computer graphics. State-of-the-art Reports, Eurographics '93, Barcelona

  • Neumann L, Purgathofer W, Tobler R, Neumann A, Eliás P, Feda M, Pueyo X (1995) The stochastic ray method for radiosity. Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering. Dublin, Springer, Vienna New York, pp 206–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattanaik S, Mudur S (1992) Computation of global illumination by Monte Carlo simulation of the particle, light. Proceedings of the 3rd Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Bristol, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 71–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattanaik S, Bouatouch K (1995) Linear radiosity with error estimation. Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Dublin, Springer, Vienna-New York, pp 170–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Press W, Teukolsky S, Vetterling W, Flannery B (1992) Numerical recipes in C — the art of scientific computing, 2nd edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirley P (1990) A ray tracing method for illumination calculation in diffuse-specular scenes. Proceedings of Graphics Interface '90, Halifax Canadian Information Processing Society, Toronto, pp 202–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirley P (1991a) Time complexity of Monte Carlo radiosity. Proceedings of Eurographics '91 Vienna, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 459–464

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirley P (1991b) Radiosity via ray tracing. In: Arvo J (ed), Graphics gems II, Academic Press, Cambridge London San Diego, pp 306–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirley P, Wade B, Hubbard P, Zareski D, Walter B, Greenberg D (1995) Global illumination via density estimation. Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Dublin, Springer, Vienna, pp 219–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel R, Howell J (1981) Thermal radiation heat transfer. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Spanier J, Gelbard E (1969) Monte Carlo principles and neutron transport problems. Addison-Wesley, Reading

    Google Scholar 

  • Tampieri F, Lischinski D (1991) The constant radiosity assumption syndrome. Proceedings of the 2nd Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, Barcelona. Photorealistic rendering in computer graphics. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 83–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Troutman R, Max N (1993) Radiosity algorithms using higher-order finite element methods. Comput Graph (Annual Conference Series) pp 209–212

  • Wallace J, Cohen M, Greenberg D (1987) A two-pass solution of the rendering equation: a synthesis of ray tracing and radiosity. Comput Graph 21:311–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward G, Rubinstein F, Clear R (1988) A ray tracing solution for diffuse interreflection. Comput Graph 22:85–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Zatz H (1992) Galerkin radiosity: a higher-order solution method for global illumination. Master's Thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Zatz H (1993) Galerkin radiosity: a higher-order solution method for global illumination. Comput Graph (Annual Conference Series) pp 213–220

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Feda, M. A Monte Carlo approach for Galerkin radiosity. The Visual Computer 12, 390–405 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01785872

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01785872

Key words

Navigation