Real-time single scattering inside inhomogeneous materials

In this paper we propose a novel technique to perform real-time rendering of translucent inhomogeneous materi- als, one of the most well known problems of Computer Graphics. The developed technique is based on an adaptive volumetric point sampling, done in a preprocessing stage, which associate to each sample the optical depth for a predefined set of directions. This information is then used by a rendering algorithm that combines the object's surface rasterization with a ray tracing algorithm, implemented on the graphics processor, to compose the final image. This approach allows us to simulate light scattering phenomena for inhomogeneous isotropic materials in real time with a variable number of light sources. The proof of concept implementation provided demonstrates how the proposed technique is robust and efficient, and how it produces convincing visual results.