Realistic scene lighting simulation
AssigneeUniversity of Southern California
InventorsPaul E. Debevec, Timothy S. Hawkins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lighting simulation process for simulating the lighting of a subject at a location in a scene. Scene illumination data is created that specifies the illumination that the scene provides at the location at which the subject is to be simulated from a plurality of spatial directions. Subject illumination data is created that specifies the appearance of the subject when illuminated from a plurality of different spatial directions. The subject is then illuminated as if at the location in the scene by combing the scene illumination data with the subject illumination data.
Claims31
A lighting simulation process for simulating the lighting of a subject at a location in a scene comprising:
- a) creating scene illumination data specifying the illumination that the scene provides at the location at which the subject is to be simulated from a plurality of spatial directions;
- b) creating subject illumination data specifying the appearance of the subject when illuminated from a plurality of different spatial directions;
- and
- c) rendering the subject illuminated as if at the location in the scene by combining the scene illumination data with the subject illumination data.
A lighting simulation process for simulating the lighting of a subject at a location in a scene comprising:
- a) creating subject illumination data specifying the appearance of the subject when illuminated from a plurality of different spatial directions;
- and
- b) rendering the subject illuminated as if at the location in the scene by combining the subject illumination data with scene illumination data specifying the illumination that the scene provides at the location at which the subject is to be simulated from a plurality of spatial directions.
A lighting simulation process for simulating the lighting of a subject at a location in a scene comprising rendering the subject illuminated as if at the location in the scene by combining scene illumination data specifying the illumination that the scene provides at the location at which the subject is to be simulated from a plurality of spatial directions with subject illumination data specifying the appearance of the subject when illuminated from a plurality of different spatial directions.
Subject illumination data gathering apparatus for creating subject illumination data used in a lighting simulation process for simulating the lighting of the subject at a location in a scene comprising:
- a) lighting apparatus for sequentially illuminating the subject with a small light from a sequence of different spatial directions;
- b) a camera for taking a photograph of the subject when illuminated from each spatial direction;
- and
- c) a recorder for recording each photograph and information reflecting the spatial direction from which the subject was illuminated at the time of each photograph.
Computer-readable media containing computer programming instructions which, when loaded in a computer system, cause the computer system to render a subject illuminated as if at a location in a scene by combining subject illumination data specifying the appearance of the subject when illuminated from a plurality of different spatial directions with scene illumination data specifying the illumination that the scene provides at the location at which the subject is to be illuminated from a plurality of spatial directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.