Exploring the Potential of Layered BRDF Models

Thursday, 17 December | 5:30 AM - 7:15 AM | Room 513

The key advantage of using layered BRDFs over traditional, more general shading-language constructs is that the automatic result is highly plausible. This course is a survey of the considerable potential of layered surface models. On a simple layered surface model that combines several traditional BRDF components, it demonstrates how a surprisingly large number of interesting and important surface types can be efficiently represented by using the same, not particularly complex, BRDF code. It also shows how handy such an approach is for the eventual end user, whose main concern is the ease of describing object appearance based only on a few intuitive parameters. 

The course begins with a discussion of layered surface models in computer graphics and the constraints of modelling object appearance in a physically plausible fashion, then demonstrates the techniques that can be used to efficiently evaluate layered BRDF models and presents examples of the surface types that can be described in this way. The course goes beyond plain-surface models to showcase how a texture-based combination of layered surface components can be used to describe highly complex object-appearance attributes, while implicitly remaining physically plausible.

Level

Intermediate

Presentation Language

Presented in English

Prerequisites

A working knowledge of global illumination, physically based rendering, and reflectance modeling.

Instructor(s)

Andrea Weidlich
Technische Universität Wien

Alexander Wilkie 
Charles University in Prague

Instructor Bio(s)

Andrea Weidlich
Andrea Weidlich is currently an assistant professor at Technische Universität Wien, where she graduated in 2005 with a MSc in computer science and a MSc in computer science management. She defended her PhD thesis in March 2009. Her current research interests include predictive rendering with a special focus on gemstone prototyping and appearance modeling.
Alexander Wilkie
Currently a senior lecturer at Charles University in Prague, Alexander Wilkie achieved his habilitation in applied computer science from Technische Universität Wien in June 2008, and from 2000 to 2008 he was an assistant professor at that university, where he obtained both his masters degree (1996) and PhD (2001) in computer science. His main research interests are predictive rendering, color science, and appearance modelling. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed papers about computer graphics and has extensive teaching experience in the areas of photorealistic rendering and color science at Technische Universität Wien and Charles University