Illumination Models

CMSC 161: Interactive Computer

Graphics
Introduction
In order to produce realistic images, we must simulate
the appearance of surfaces under various lighting
conditions.
Light Sources
The total reflected light is the sum of the contributions
from light sources and other reflecting surfaces in the
scene
Point Source
Parallel Source
Distributed Light Source

A
B
C
Light Sources
When light strikes a surface, some of the light are
reflected, some are absorbed, and some are transmitted.
The intensity of the color of the surface depends on how
much light is reflected.
The amount of incident light reflected by a surface
depends on the type of material: shiny materials reflect
more light and dull surfaces absorb more of the incident
light.

Illumination Models
Illumination models are used to calculate the intensity
of light that is reflected at a given point on a surface.
They describe the interaction between the light sources
and the surfaces.
Two Kinds of Reflection
Diffuse reflection occurs when some
incident light slightly penetrates the
surface and is retransmitted uniformly in
all directions
Specular reflection
Are mirror-like and highly directional
Incident light does not penetrate the
surface but instead is reflected
directly
This gives rise to highlights that make
the surface look shiny
Specularly reflected light has the
same color as the incident light
Total Light Reflected
total light reflected = diffuse component + specular
component
Computing the Diffuse Component
Lamberts Law
Suppose that a beam of light coming from the direction vector L
strikes a surface with normal vector N at an angle .





Then, the amount of diffuse reflection depends on .
When the angle is increased,
The surface area lighted increases
The energy per unit area (or intensity) decreases
Computing the Diffuse Component
Diffuse component = I
s
k
d
cos where
I
s
is the intensity of the light source
k
d
is the diffuse reflection coefficient of the surface (0 k
d
1)
0 / 2

Assuming that vectors N and L are normalized, cos = N L, so
Diffuse component = I
s
k
d
(N L)
Computing the Specular Component
Let be the angle between the reflection vector R and the view
vector V. As increases, the intensity of light reflected in the V
direction increases.
The figure below shows the case for an imperfect reflector.
Computing the Specular Component
Phong Illumination model (for nonperfect reflectors)
Specular component = I
s
k
s
cos
n
where
I
s
is the intensity of the light source
k
s
is the specular reflection coefficient (0 k
s
1)
n is the specular-reflection exponent, which determines the rate of
falloff of light
Computing the Specular Component
Assuming that R and V have been normalized, cos = R V, so
Specular component = I
s
k
s
(R V)
n




By simple geometry, R = 2N(N L) L
Approximation of attenuation by the form cos
n
has no real
physical basis, but it looks good.
Total Light Reflected I
I = diffuse component + specular component
I = [I
s
k
d
(N L)] + [I
s
k
s
(R V)
n
]
I = I
s
[k
d
(N L) + k
s
(R V)
n
]
Ambient Light
An illumination model can be expressed by an illumination
equation in variables associated with the point on the object being
shaded. The illumination equation that expresses this simple
model is
I = k
i
where I is the resulting intensity and coefficient k
i
is the objects
intrinsic intensity
The process of evaluating the illumination equation at one or more
points on an object is often referred to as lighting the object.
Now imagine, instead of self-luminosity, that there is a diffuse,
nondirectional source of light, the product of multiple reflections of
light from the many surfaces in the environment.
This is known as ambient light.
Direct and Indirect Illumination
Computation of light reflected as a result of indirect illumination is
expensive, so, we can just ignore its computation and instead add
an ambient component to compensate it.
Ambient component = I
a
k
a
where
I
a
is the intensity of the ambient light
k
a
is the ambient coefficient (0 k
a
1)
Total Light Reflected I
total light reflected I = ambient + diffuse + specular components
I = I
a
k
a
+ I
s
[k
d
(N L) + k
s
(R V)
n
]

Additional remarks:
To deal with colors, we compute the intensity for the red, green and blue
components
To handle multiple light sources, we sum the intensity contributions from
each light source

Examples ...

Ambient Lighting

Diffuse Lighting

Specular Lighting