Problems with Ray Tracing and Radiosity

[ LiB ]

Problems with Ray Tracing and Radiosity

In the past years , ray tracing and radiosity have been extensively used to simulate light. Ray tracing and radiosity suffer from their own individual problems. Let's quickly cover some of these problems in each algorithm.

Problems with ray tracing include the following:

• Diffuse reflection

• Indirect illumination

• Errors in calculating the right pixel intensity

• Multiple reflection problems

• Not a global illumination algorithm

Problems with radiosity include the following:

• Excessive memory consumption

• Specular reflections

• Inaccuracy between materials

• Meshing constraints

• Poor realism with curved surfaces

You need an algorithm that can correctly simulate diffuse reflections or basically scatter light in many random directions in a correct fashion. You need an algorithm that correctly computes the penumbra in shadows and calculates the right pixel intensity based on the flow of light throughout the whole scene, or in short, global illumination. You need an algorithm that can do specular reflections but doesn't require a large amount of memory to render them, and can accurately tell the correct flow of light between different types of materials. You don't want a subdivided mesh of the original geometry because it creates a whole array of problems. You want to simulate lighting accurately on any type of curved surface and complex object. You want to eliminate all of these problems and develop an algorithm to fix these mishaps. No small feat!

[ LiB ]