A Photon Mapping Based Approach to Computing Celestial Illumination
Abstract
For photographers to capture good pictures of their subjects, the lighting conditions must be taken into account and adjusted for accordingly. The same holds true
for a satellite attempting to photograph another object in space: it must know the
lighting conditions to adjust camera settings and position itself properly to take the
best photograph. This thesis presents a photon mapping based algorithm to compute
a physically accurate representation of the illumination of objects in orbit around the
Earth, taking into account the effects that cause refraction in the atmosphere. I also
discuss the assumptions that I have made to utilize the algorithm in an interactive
3D visualization tool, which I implemented to view the illumination on objects at
arbitrary positions in space. Finally, I show that the photon mapping method offers
improvements over simpler methods of computing illumination.
Subject
photon mappingray tracing
final gathering
earth
sun
atmospheric rendering
rendering the atmosphere
illumination
atmospheric refraction
atmospheric phenomena
phase integral
Citation
Penney, Jonathan (2009). A Photon Mapping Based Approach to Computing Celestial Illumination. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2009 -05 -470.