GIT-GVU-91-16

An Improved Explicit Radiosity Method for Calculating Non-Lambertian Reflections

David E. Hall
Holly E. Rushmeier

We present an improved radiosity method for accounting for non-Lambertian reflections. The method explicitly calculates the radiance distribution leaving each non-Lambertian surface. The method differs from previous explicit radiosity methods in two respects. First, non-Lambertian surfaces are discretized adaptively based on their effect on other surfaces, rather than on their own spatial radiance distribution. Second, the calculation of the radiance distribution is made more efficient using the ideas of hemi-cube pixel groups and the reflectance hemi-sphere. The method is well suited to being used as the first pass in a multi-pass rendering method.

Radiosity, global illumination, general reflectance functions

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