Real-Time Rendering——9.1.4 Subsurface Scattering地下散射

Refracted light continues to interact with the interior volume of the object. As mentioned earlier, metals reflect most incident light and quickly absorb the rest. In contrast,non-metals exhibit a wide variety of scattering and absorption behaviors, which are similar to those seen in the cups of liquid in Figure 9.8. Materials with low scattering and absorption are transparent, transmitting any refracted light through the entire object. Simple methods for rendering such materials without refraction were discussed in Section 5.5, and refraction will be covered in detail in Section 14.5.2. In this chapter we will focus on opaque objects, in which the transmitted light undergoes multiple scattering and absorption events until finally some of it is re-emitted back from the surface. See Figure 9.14.

折射光继续与物体的内部体积相互作用。如前所述，金属反射大部分入射光，并迅速吸收其余的光。相比之下，非金属表现出各种各样的散射和吸收行为，这与图9.8中液体杯中的现象相似。低散射和低吸收的材料是透明的，透过整个对象传输任何折射光。在5.5节中讨论了渲染这种无折射材质的简单方法，折射将在14.5.2节中详细讨论。在这一章中，我们将关注不透明物体，其中透射光经历多次散射和吸收事件，直到最后一些光从表面重新发射回来。参见图9.14。

Figure 9.14. The refracted light undergoes absorption as it travels through the material. In this example most of the absorption is at longer wavelengths, leaving primarily short-wavelength blue light. In addition, it scatters from particles inside the material. Eventually some refracted light is scattered back out of the surface, as shown by the blue arrows exiting the surface in various directions. 

图9.14。折射光在穿过材料时会被吸收。在这个例子中，大部分的吸收是在较长的波长，留下的主要是短波长的蓝光。此外，它从材料内部的粒子散射。最终，一些折射光被散射出表面，如从不同方向射出表面的蓝色箭头所示。

This subsurface-scattered light exits the surface at varying distances from the entry point. The distribution of entry-exit distances depends on the density and properties of the scattering particles in the material. The relationship between these distances and the shading scale (the size of a pixel, or the distance between shading samples) is important. If the entry-exit distances are small compared to the shading scale, they can be assumed to be effectively zero for shading purposes. This allows subsurface scattering to be combined with surface reflection into a local shading model, with outgoing light at a point depending only on incoming light at the same point. However, since subsurface-scattered light has a significantly different appearance than surfacereflected light, it is convenient to divide them into separate shading terms. The specular term models surface reflection, and the diffuse term models local subsurface scattering.

这种次表面散射光在离入射点不同距离处射出表面。入射-出射距离的分布取决于材料中散射粒子的密度和性质。这些距离与着色比例(像素的大小，或着色样本之间的距离)之间的关系很重要。如果入口-出口距离与阴影比例相比很小，则出于阴影的目的，可以假设它们实际上为零。这允许将次表面散射与表面反射合并到局部着色模型中，一个点的出射光仅取决于同一点的入射光。然而，由于次表面散射光与表面反射光具有明显不同的外观，因此将它们分成单独的着色项是很方便的。镜面反射项模拟表面反射，而漫射项模拟局部次表面散射。

If the entry-exit distances are large compared to the shading scale, then specialized rendering techniques are needed to capture the visual effect of light entering the surface at one point and leaving it from another. These global subsurface scattering techniques are covered in detail in Section 14.6. The difference between local and global subsurface scattering is illustrated in Figure 9.15.

如果进出距离与着色比例相比很大，则需要专门的渲染技术来捕捉光线从一点进入表面并从另一点离开表面的视觉效果。这些全局地下散射技术将在第14.6节中详细介绍。局部和全局地下散射的区别如图9.15所示。

Figure 9.15. On the left, we are rendering a material with subsurface scattering. Two different sampling sizes are shown, in yellow and purple. The large yellow circle represents a single shading sample covering an area larger than the subsurface scattering distances. Thus, those distances can be ignored, enabling subsurface scattering to be treated as the diffuse term in a local shading model, as shown in the separate figure on the right. If we move closer to this surface, the shading sample area becomes smaller, as shown by the small purple circle. The subsurface scattering distances are now large compared to the area covered by a shading sample. Global techniques are needed to produce a realistic image from these samples. 

图9.15。在左边，我们正在渲染一个具有次表面散射的材质。显示了两种不同的采样大小，黄色和紫色。大的黄色圆圈代表覆盖面积大于地下散射距离的单一阴影样本。因此，可以忽略这些距离，使次表面散射能够被视为局部着色模型中的漫射项，如右图所示。如果我们靠近这个表面，着色样本区域会变小，如紫色小圆圈所示。与阴影样本覆盖的区域相比，地下散射距离现在很大。需要全局技术来从这些样本中产生真实的图像。

It is important to note that local and global subsurface scattering techniques model exactly the same physical phenomena. The best choice for each situation depends not only on the material properties but also on the scale of observation. For example, when rendering a scene of a child playing with a plastic toy, it is likely that global techniques would be needed for an accurate rendering of the child’s skin, and that a local diffuse shading model would suffice for the toy. This is because the scattering distances in skin are quite a bit larger than in plastic. However, if the camera is far enough away,the skin scattering distances would be smaller than a pixel and local shading models would be accurate for both the child and the toy. Conversely, in an extreme close-up shot, the plastic would exhibit noticeable non-local subsurface scattering and global techniques would be needed to render the toy accurately.

重要的是要注意，局部和全局地下散射技术模拟完全相同的物理现象。每种情况的最佳选择不仅取决于材料特性，还取决于观察的尺度。例如，当渲染一个玩塑料玩具的孩子的场景时，很可能需要全局技术来精确渲染孩子的皮肤，而局部漫反射着色模型将满足玩具的需要。这是因为皮肤中的散射距离比塑料中的大得多。然而，如果相机足够远，皮肤散射距离将小于一个像素，并且局部阴影模型对于孩子和玩具都是准确的。相反，在一个极端的特写镜头中，塑料会表现出明显的非局部次表面散射，需要全局技术来精确地渲染玩具。