A Simple Diffuse Fluorescent BBRRDF Model

Abstract

Fluorescence - the effect of a photon being absorbed at one wavelength and re-emitted at another - is present in many common materials such as clothes and paper. Yet there has been little research in rendering or modeling fluorescent surfaces. We discuss the design decisions leading to a simple model for a diffuse fluorescent BBRRDF (bispectral bidirectional reflection and reradiation distribution function). In contrast to reradiation matrix based models our model is continuous in wavelength space. It can be parameterized by artificially designed spectra as well as by many publicly available physical measurements. It combines fluorescence and non-fluorescent reflectance, as most real-world materials are not purely fluorescent but also reflect some light without changing its wavelength. With its simple parameterization the BBRRDF is intended as a starting point for any physically based spectral rendering system aiming to simulate fluorescence. To that end we show how to continuously sample both incident and exitant wavelengths from our BBRRDF which makes it suitable for bidirectional transport, and we discuss energy and photon conservation in the context of fluorescence.