Radiosity in Computer Graphics: A Proposed Alternative to the Hemi-cube Algorithm

Radiosity is widely acknowledged as being the global illumination model responsible for the most realistic synthetic pictures yet produced [13]. This paper introduces an alternative to the hemi-cube algorithm which utilizes a unit hemisphere as its view volume and, as far as the authors are aware, is unique in that it: 1. Uses a discretization of the hemisphere which is new to radiosity and which splits the hemisphere’s surface into a number of (near) equi-area regions, thereby simplifying the calculation of delta form factors. 2. Is the first such algorithm which, whilst utilizing a view volume (as opposed to a view screen) allows the user to trade off as much form factor accuracy as they wish, in exchange for a corresponding increase in form factor calculation speed.