Shell radiance texture function

One or more device-readable storage media storing device-executable instructions for performing steps on a processor, the steps comprising:

• accessing a base volume stored in the memory, the base volume comprising a volumetric sample of a translucent material being modeled, the base volume comprising voxels that represent translucence properties of the material being modeled;
• accessing a mesh model stored in the memory;
• mapping the base volume to the mesh model to form a two-layered model stored in the memory, the two-layered model comprising a shell and a core;
• defining a shell radiance texture function (SRTF) to record an outgoing radiance from the base volume, the SRTF being defined by computing sample values from light rays passing through the base volume from various directions;
• precomputing radiance values of the core using the SRTF and storing the radiance values of the core in the memory;
• and
• computing surface radiance of the two-layered model by using the precomputed radiance values to compute surface radiance of the two-layered model and rendering the two-layered model using the surface radiance.

A method performed by a computing device comprising a processor and memory, the method comprising:

• accessing a base volume stored in the memory, the base volume comprising a volumetric sample of a translucent material being modeled, the base volume comprising voxels that represent geometry and translucence properties of the material being modeled;
• accessing a mesh model stored in the memory;
• synthesizing the base volume onto the mesh model to form a two-layered model stored in the memory, the two-layered model comprising a shell and a core;
• precomputing, by the processor, by sampling light rays passing through the base volume from various directions, shell radiance texture function (SRTF) values to represent outgoing radiance from the base volume, where the SRTF values are aligned with the shell of the two-layered model, where the SRTF values record translucency effects of the base volume on the light rays, and where the SRTF values and the base volume are stored in the memory and accessed therefrom by the processor;
• precomputing, from the two-layered model, core radiance comprising radiance of the core, and storing the core radiance in the memory;
• and
• computing surface radiance of the two-layered model based on light incident to the two-layered model, based on the SRTF values, and based on the precomputed core radiance stored in the memory, and using the surface radiance to render the two-layered model.