Real-time Rendering of Heterogeneous Translucent Objects with Arbitrary Shapes

We present a real-time algorithm for rendering translucent objects of arbitrary shapes. We approximate the scattering of light inside the objects using the diffusion equation, which we solve on-the-fly using the GPU. Our algorithm is general enough to handle arbitrary geometry, heterogeneous materials, deformable objects and modifications of lighting, all in real-time. In a pre-processing step, we discretize the object into a regular 4-connected structure (QuadGraph). Due to its regular connectivity, this structure is easily packed into a texture and stored on the GPU. At runtime, we use the QuadGraph stored on the GPU to solve the diffusion equation, in real-time, taking into account the varying input conditions: Incoming light, object material and geometry. We handle deformable objects, provided the deformation does not change the topological structure of the objects.