| Photo realistic 3D rendering is not just for fun and | | | | Illumination. What is Global Illumination? It is a |
| hobby. It is big business. Many industries employ | | | | collective term for several technologies (including |
| photo realistic renderings. These include fields such as | | | | raytracing and radiosity) that are used to produce |
| film and movie making, interior design, graphic design | | | | realistic renderings via direct as well as indirect |
| and product design. | | | | illumination calculations. Global Illumination consists of |
| What is Ray tracing? It is a technique of generating | | | | algorithms that take into account not only the light |
| an image by tracing the path of light through pixels in | | | | which comes directly from light sources, but also |
| an image plane. The technique can produce images of | | | | where light rays from these sources are indirectly |
| higher realism that scanline rendering methods | | | | reflected onto other surfaces in the 3D environment. |
| In the past, Ray tracing was considered very high | | | | Of the the most realistic technology for Global |
| end and advanced. However, it is no longer the case. | | | | Illumination rendering is the usage of HDRI |
| Rendering and virtualization technologies have | | | | environment maps. HDRI stands for High Dynamic |
| approached the state of hyper realism. In hyper | | | | Range Imaging. This technology allows a greater |
| realism, renderings and physical reality are very hard | | | | dynamic range of exposures than normal digital |
| to tell apart. This is because many of the rendering | | | | rendering techniques, thus producing true-to-life |
| systems and algorithms have become physically | | | | imageries. |
| accurate in terms of simulation and calculation. | | | | These are just some of the rendering technologies |
| The latest technology for photo realistic rendering | | | | available. It is certainly not an exhaustive list. |
| that had gone beyond basic ray tracing is Global | | | | |