Image based lighting

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This teapot was illuminated using an HDR environment map of St. Peter's Cathedral, producing a high degree of realism.

Image based lighting (IBL) is a 3D rendering technique which involves plotting an image onto a dome or sphere which contains the primary subject. The lighting characteristics of the surrounding surface are then taken into account when rendering the scene, using the modeling techniques of global illumination. This is in contrast to light sources such as a computer-simulated sun or light bulb, which are more localized.

Image based lighting generally uses high dynamic range imaging for greater realism, though this is not universal. Almost all modern rendering software offers some type of image based lighting, though the exact terminology used in the system may vary.

Image based lighting is also starting to show up in video games as video game consoles and computers start to have the computational resources to render scenes in real time using this technique.

[edit] References

• Tutorial

[edit] See also

• Ambient occlusion
• Final gathering

[edit] External links

• Real-Time HDR Image-Based Lighting Demo