2008

Radiosity: A ray of light that hits a surface is reflected by multiple diffuse rays, which
can themselves illuminate other surfaces. Surfaces are subdivided to increase accuracy
of the solution.
In early versions of the radiosity algorithm, the distribution of light among
mesh elements had to be completely calculated before any useful results could
be displayed on the screen. Even though the result was view-independent,
the preprocessing took a considerable amount of time. In 1988, progressive
refinement was invented. This technique displays immediate visual results
that can progressively improve in accuracy and visual quality. In 1999, the
technique called stochastic relaxation radiosity (SRR) was invented. The SRR
algorithm forms the basis of the commercial radiosity systems provided by
Autodesk.
5984 | Chapter 18 Rendering