A framework for realistic image synthesis.

Communications of the ACM, 42(8):44--53, August 1999.

Our goal at the Cornell Program of Computer Graphics is to develop physically based lighting models and perceptually based rendering procedures that produce synthetic images visually and measurably indistinguishable from real-world images. Fidelity of the physical simulation is the primary concern. Here, I emphasize the formal comparisons between simulations and actual measurements, the difficulties algorithm designers and scientists encounter building light-reflection and light-transport models, and the need to tap the vast amount of psychophysical research conducted over the past 50 years, as well as future research directions. We hope our research helps establish a more fundamental, scientific approach toward developing rendering algorithms.

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