Rendering of Soft Shadows

An apparatus for rendering images, comprising:

• at least one processing module configured to:
• use a pattern of ray directions to associate each of a plurality of pixels of a frame with a ray direction of said pattern of ray directions;
• and
• for each of said plurality of pixels of the frame:
• trace a ray through the 3-D scene, for that pixel in the ray direction associated with that pixel;
• and
• identify a subset of pixels of the frame in the vicinity of that pixel, wherein at least some of the pixels in the subset are associated with different ray directions of the pattern of ray directions;
• and
• produce a value for that pixel, wherein producing the value for that pixel comprises using a result of the ray tracing for the pixels in the identified subset of pixels to characterize occlusion of a source of light for that pixel.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon a computer readable description in a hardware description language that, when processed, enables fabrication of an apparatus for rendering images, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one processing module configured to:
• use a pattern of ray directions to associate each of a plurality of pixels of a frame with a ray direction of said pattern of ray directions;
• and
• for each of said plurality of pixels of the frame:
• trace a ray through the 3-D scene, for that pixel in the ray direction associated with that pixel;
• identify a subset of pixels of the frame in the vicinity of that pixel, wherein at least some of the pixels in the subset are associated with different ray directions of the pattern of ray directions;
• and
• produce a value for that pixel, wherein producing the value for that pixel comprises using a result of the ray tracing for the pixels in the identified subset of pixels to characterize occlusion of a source of light for that pixel.