Once-more Scattered Next Event Estimation for Volume Rendering

Abstract

We present a Monte Carlo path tracing technique to sample extended next event estimation contributions in participating media: we consider one additional scattering vertex on the way to the next event, accounting for focused blur, resulting in visually interesting image features. Our technique is tailored to thin homogeneous media with strongly forward scattering phase functions, such as water or atmospheric haze. Previous methods put emphasis on sampling transmittances or geometric factors, and are either limited to isotropic scattering, or used tabulation or polynomial approximation to account for some specific phase functions. We will show how to jointly importance sample the product of an arbitrary phase function with analytic sampling in the solid angle domain and the two reciprocal squared distance terms of the adjacent edges of the transport path. The technique is fast and simple to implement in an existing rendering system. Our estimator is designed specifically for forward scattering, so the new technique has to be combined with other estimators to cover the backward scattering contributions.