Real-Time Representation of Complex Lighting Data in a Nightdrive Simulation

Abstract

For the development of new automobile lighting systems, special raytracing methods are used to completely simulate the illumination properties of the new product. For further evaluation, real test drives with real prototypes are still necessary. But changing weather and lighting conditions make the test drive results not fully comparable. Therefore, a high number of test drives have to be performed. This leads to a time-consuming and cost-intensive development process. Virtual test drives at night combined with a realistic simulation of a lighting system s illumination characteristics can minimize the number of real nightdrives and allow reproducible testing conditions as well as comparable results. A close-to-reality simulation poses high demands on the real-time method for calculating and displaying illumination data in a virtual scene. This paper introduces a real-time illumination method for use in a nightdrive simulation.