CS838: Computer Graphics Rendering

Topic 2: Monte Carlo Methods

Lecture 2-1: Probability, Sampling and Ray Tracing

Lecture Slides

• Powerpoint
• Postscript

The probability theory covered in this lecture is also covered, with mixed success, in chapter 8 of the textbook. "Numerical Recipes" by Press, Teukolsky, Vetterling and Flannery, chapter 7, contains a reasonable description of sampling algorithms. Ray tracing is covered in any graphics book.

Lecture 2-2: Pure Path Tracing Algorithms

Lecture Slides

• Powerpoint
• Postscript

The most complete reference for path tracing algorithms in global illumination is Eric Veach's PhD thesis (Stanford University, Dec 1997).

Lecture 3-2: Splatting Approaches

Lecture Slides

• Powerpoint
• Postscript

The Radiance web site includes technical documentation on Radiance. I strongly recommend reading the 1994 SIGGRAPH paper describing the system as a whole. It has many important things to say about designing a robust lighting simulator for real users. Most of the published work on photon maps is available at http://graphics.stanford.edu/~henrik/papers/.