Systems and methods for texture-space ray tracing of transparent and translucent objects

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes a computing device to render a translucent object in a scene, by performing the steps of:

• selecting a first location on a surface of the translucent object;
• generating an inverted normal vector from the first location on the surface of the translucent object;
• identifying a second location inside the translucent object along the inverted normal vector;
• performing ray tracing by launching a plurality of rays from the second location inside the translucent object along the inverted normal vector;
• determining for each ray of the plurality of rays, a lighting result from an intersection of the ray with a surface of the translucent object;
• aggregating the lighting results corresponding to the plurality of rays into an aggregated lighting value;
• and
• storing the aggregated lighting value for the first location on the surface of the translucent object in a data structure, wherein the aggregated lighting value is configured to be applied to geometry corresponding to the translucent object to render the translucent object.

A device for rendering a translucent object in a scene, the device comprising:

• a memory storing instructions;
• and
• one or more processors configured to the execute the instructions to cause the device to:
• select a first location on a surface of the translucent object;
• generate an inverted normal vector from the first location on the surface of the translucent object;
• identify a second location inside the translucent object along the inverted normal vector;
• perform ray tracing by launching a plurality of rays from the second location inside the translucent object along the inverted normal vector;
• determine for each ray of the plurality of rays, a lighting result from an intersection of the ray with a surface of the translucent object;
• aggregate the lighting results corresponding to the plurality of rays into an aggregated lighting value;
• and
• store the aggregated lighting value for the first location on the surface of the translucent object in a data structure, wherein the aggregated lighting value is configured to be applied to geometry corresponding to the translucent object to render the translucent object.