PBRT_V2 总结记录 <108> Basis Functions : Theory

概述

The idea here is to take a generally infinite-dimensional space of functions (pixel radiance
as a function of light-source position) and represent them with a specific set of basis
functions and corresponding basis function coefficients. Given a fixed preselected set
of basis functions, the coefficient values at each pixel define the approximation to the
general function in terms of the basis. The result will usually be an approximation, since
a finite set of coefficients can’t represent all possible functions. However, if the basis is
chosen well, or the functions being approximated have properties like smoothness that
can be taken advantage of, the results can be close enough for many applications.

（这里的思想是取一个无限大空间的函数，可以用一组特定的基来和相应的基函数系数 来表示它。）

 

A Piecewise-Constant Basis （Example）

A straightforward example of using basis functions to approximate an arbitrary function
is to use a set of piecewise-constant basis functions, where we might decide to use four
basis functions over the range [0, 1]. The first basis function, B1(x), has the value one
between zero and 1/4 and is zero elsewhere; the next one, B2(x), is one between 1/4 and
2/4; and so forth.

To represent an arbitrary function f (x) in this basis, we might evaluate it at a series
of positions at the midpoint of each basis function’s range, xi , x0 = 1/8, x1 = 3/8, and
so forth, giving a series of basis coefficient values ci = f (xi). The re