Rendering and animation of gaseous phenomena by combining fast volume and scanline a-buffer techniques

Abstract

This paper describes a new technique that efficiently combines volume rendering and scanline a-buffer techniques. This technique is useful for combining all types of volume-rendered objects with scanline rendered objects and is especially useful for rendering scenes containing gaseous phenomena such as clouds, fog, and smoke. The rendering and animation of these phenomena has been a difficult problem in computer graphics. A new algorithm for realistically modeling and animating gaseous phenomena is presented, providing true three-dimensional volumes of gas. The gases are modeled using turbulent flow based solid texturing to define their geometry and are animated based on turbulent flow simulations. A low albedo illumination model is used that takes into consideration self-shadowing of the volumes.