Abstract

In recent years, it has become inevitable to use volume rendering techniques to create highly realistic, state-of-the-art images of a variety of different phenomena. Especially for the rendering of natural phenomena (i.e. clouds or fire), and the depiction of medical datasets (i.e. computed tomographies), volume tracing is very well suited. This paper discusses the simulation of light interacting with participating media and presents a flexible framework, which allows for the incorporation of many different volume rendering properties into general purpose rendering systems.

KEYWORDS: rendering, volume tracing, volume rendering, participating media, natural phenomena, medical visualization, density functions, transfer functions.