Method and system for modeling light scattering in a participating medium

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed by a computer system, perform operations comprising:

• receiving an image and associated depth values for each pixel in the image;
• generating a plurality of copies of the image, each of the copies being associated with a respective number of scattering events;
• for each of the plurality of copies of the image:
• applying per-pixel weights to pixels of the copy of the image, thereby producing a weighted copy of the image,
• wherein the per-pixel weight applied to each pixel represents a probability of an associated light ray experiencing the number of scattering events associated with the copy of the image;
• applying a respective blur to each of the weighted copies of the image based on the number of scattering events associated with the weighted copy of the image;
• and
• summing the blurred weighted copies of the image.

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, wherein the memory includes an application program configured to perform operations comprising:
• receiving an image and associated depth values for each pixel in the image,
• generating a plurality of copies of the image, each of the copies being associated with a respective number of scattering events,
• for each of the plurality of copies of the image:
• applying per-pixel weights to pixels of the copy of the image, thereby producing a weighted copy of the image;
• wherein the per-pixel weight applied to each pixel represents a probability of an associated light ray experiencing the number of scattering events associated with the copy of the image,
• applying a respective blur to each of the weighted copies of the image based on the number of scattering events associated with the weighted copy of the image, and
• summing the blurred weighted copies of the image.