Basic Illumination

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Light Source Independent Models

Depth Shading
Color or intensity determined solely by "depth" of polygon.
Darker colors or intensities at lower elevations.
Effective in modeling terrain or surface data
Avoids complex calculations of lighting dependent models
Simulates realism

Depth Cueing
Reduce intensity of pixel as the distance from the observer increases
Simulates reduction in clarity as distances from the observer increases
Image fades in the distance
Often used in medical imaging

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Light Source Dependent Models

What an object looks like depends on
Properties of the light source such as color, distance from object,
direction from object, intensity of source
Surface characteristics of object such as color and reflectance
properties
Location of the observer
Light striking a surface of an object can be
Reflected (Diffuse reflection & Specular reflection)
Absorbed
Transmitted (Translucent or transparent)
Combination of all three

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Diffuse Reflection using Lambert's Law

Lambert's Law - The intensity of light reflected from a surface is
proportional to the cosine of the angle between the vector L to the light
source and the normal vector N perpendicular to the surface.

N (Normal)

L (Light Source)

The amount of reflected light is dependent on the position of the light

source and the object but independent of the observer's position.

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Simple Illumination Model

Let
I = Illumination intensity
Ip = Point light source intensity (white light)
kd = Surface reflection coefficient (0<=k d<=1)
= must be between 0 and 90 degrees
A simple illumination model: I = Ipkd(cos)
Since cos = (LN)/(||L|| ||N||), then if L and N have unit length then we
can use
N (Normal)

L (Light Source)

I = Ipkd (LN)

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Ambient Illumination
Ambient light is the illumination of an object caused by reflected light
from other surfaces. To calculate this exactly would be very
complicated. A simple model assumes ambient light is uniform in the
environment.

Let
Ia = Ambient light intensity
ka = Ambient light reflected

Then we modify our previous illumination model to

I = Iaka + Ipkd (LN)

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Light-source Attenuation
Thus far we have ignored the inverse square law: energy
decays with the inverse square of the distance dL to the
light source. Including this term we get
I = Iaka + Ipkd (LN)/dL2
However, due to our previous assumptions of a point light
source and uniform ambient light, using the dL2 term gives
too rapid of a decrease in illumination intensity to look
realistic. The 1/dL2 term is usually replaced by fatt where
fatt = MIN (1/(c1 + c2dL + c3dL2), 1)
I = Iaka + Ipkd (NL)*fatt
Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Specular Reflection

Light bounces off a glossy surface maintaining the color of

the light source.
Visible when the angle of incidence of the light from the
point light source is equal to the angle of reflection toward
the observer.
For a non-perfect reflector, intensity of reflected light
decreases rapidly as angle to observer increases beyond
the angle of incidence.
N

L
V = Observer Position

N = Normal Vector

L = Light Src Vector

R = Reflected Vector

Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Phong's Highlighting Term

Ipfatt W() cosna
Ip = Point light source intensity
fatt = Light-source Attenuation
W() = Fraction of specullarly reflected light (usually a constant, 0 < = k s) <= 1
n = Specular reflection exponent (perfect reflector n = )
cos a = R V = (2N(N L) L) V
I = Iaka + Ipkd (NL)*fatt + Specular Component
Specular Component = Ipfatt ks(((2N(N L) L) V)n
This term represents the amount of the light sources color that should be
added!
Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

Implementation Details
Given an RGB Color Space
(A) Ambient Light = Ia
(D) Diffuse Reflection = Ip (L N)/(||L|| ||N||) fatt
(S) Specular Reflection = Ip* fatt (R V)n

Given a White Light Source L = (255, 255, 255)

Given a RGB point O = (R, G, B)
Ir = Or(A*ka + D*kd) + Lr(S*ks)
Ig = Og(A*ka + D*kd) + Lg(S*ks)
Ib = Ob(A*ka + D*kd) + Lb(S*ks)
Larry F. Hodges
(Modified by Amos Johnson)

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