article

Physically-based simulation of twilight phenomena

Authors:

Hans-Peter SeidelAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), Volume 24, Issue 4

Pages 1353 - 1373

https://doi.org/10.1145/1095878.1095884

Published: 01 October 2005 Publication History

Abstract

We present a physically-based approach to compute the colors of the sky during the twilight period before sunrise and after sunset. The simulation is based on the theory of light scattering by small particles. A realistic atmosphere model is assumed, consisting of air molecules, aerosols, and water. Air density, aerosols, and relative humidity vary with altitude. In addition, the aerosol component varies in composition and particle-size distribution. This allows us to realistically simulate twilight phenomena for a wide range of different climate conditions. Besides considering multiple Rayleigh and Mie scattering, we take into account wavelength-dependent refraction of direct sunlight as well as the shadow of the Earth. Incorporating several optimizations into the radiative transfer simulation, a photo-realistic hemispherical twilight sky is computed in less than two hours on a conventional PC. The resulting radiometric data is useful, for instance, for high-dynamic range environment mapping, outdoor global illumination calculations, mesopic vision research and optical aerosol load probing.

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Index Terms

Physically-based simulation of twilight phenomena
1. Applied computing
  1. Physical sciences and engineering
    1. Astronomy
    2. Earth and atmospheric sciences
2. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Image manipulation
      1. Texturing
  2. Modeling and simulation

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics

ACM Transactions on Graphics Volume 24, Issue 4

October 2005

244 pages

ISSN:0730-0301

EISSN:1557-7368

DOI:10.1145/1095878

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Copyright © 2005 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 October 2005

Published in TOG Volume 24, Issue 4

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https://doi.org/10.31857/S0132347424010086
Vyatkin SDolgovesov B(2024)Interactive Calculation of Light Refraction and Caustics Using a Graphics ProcessorProgramming and Computing Software10.1134/S036176882401012250:1(63-72)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
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