Abstract
The interaction of light with material surfaces was studied in the fields of physics and optics long before the advent of computer graphics. The application of this knowledge to computer graphics is shaped by the dichotomy of attempting to solve the complex problem of generating realistic appearance within both the informational limits imposed by visible surface techniques and the computational constraints imposed by the computing hardware.
Analyzing the evolution of illumination models in the context of this dichtomy presents a clearer understanding of the models that are currently in use and an insight into the directions of future development.
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Hall, R. A characterization of illumination models and shading techniques. The Visual Computer 2, 268–277 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020427
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020427