Method and system for graphics rendering employing gradient domain metropolis light transport

A computer system comprising:

• a processor coupled to a bus;
• a display screen coupled to said bus;
• and
• a memory coupled to said bus wherein said memory comprises instructions that when executed on said processor cause said computer system to implement a method of generating an image, said method comprising:
• simulating a presence of at least one light source within a virtualized three dimensional space;
• within said virtualized three dimensional space, defining a light sensing plane, wherein said light sensing plane comprises a matrix of a plurality of pixels to be displayed on a display screen;
• using a light transport procedure to compute said image, said procedure computing a gradient value for each pixel of said matrix to produce a plurality of gradient values, wherein said computing comprises:
• selecting a plurality of light path pairs within said virtualized three dimensional space;
• determining for each light path pair, a gradient contribution for a respective pixel of said matrix;
• and
• for each light path pair, updating a gradient value for said respective pixel with said gradient contribution, wherein said selecting is biased toward selecting more light paths that pass through pixels having larger gradient values.