Hughes/Computer Graphics, 3/E

Chapter 32. Rendering in Practice

32.1. Introduction

In this chapter we show implementations of two renderers—a path tracer and a photon mapper—with some of the optimizations that make them worth using. Both approaches are currently in wide use, are fairly easy to understand, and form complete solutions to the rendering problem in the sense that they can be shown (under reasonable conditions) to provide consistent estimates of the values we seek (i.e., “properly” rendered images).

We’re not recommending these as ideal renderers. Rather, we treat them as case studies. They are rich enough to exhibit of the complexities and features of a modern renderer; they provide the foundation necessary for you to read research papers on rendering.

We assume ...