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16
HDR Image-BasedLighting
on the Web
Jeff Russell
16.1 Introduction
Image-based lighting (IBL) is a family of techniques for illuminating surfaces using
processed image data. Such images can be prerendered, captured on the y, or obtained
through photography. Regardless of their source, the use of these images for lighting has
several advantages for render quality, not least of which is the inclusion of both direct and
indirect illumination from a surrounding scene.
Image-based lighting is not new and has in fact become a prevalent rendering tech-
nique in games and visual simulations today. As we turn our attention to graphics on the
web, and ...