Physically-based Feature Line Rendering
Abstract
Feature lines visualize the shape and structure of 3D objects, and are an essential component of many non-photorealistic rendering styles. Existing feature line rendering methods, however, are only able to render feature lines in limited contexts, such as on immediately visible surfaces or in specular reflections. We present a novel, path-based method for feature line rendering that allows for the accurate rendering of feature lines in the presence of complex physical phenomena such as glossy reflection, depth-of-field, and dispersion. Our key insight is that feature lines can be modeled as view-dependent light sources. These light sources can be sampled as a part of ordinary paths, and seamlessly integrate into existing physically-based rendering methods. We illustrate the effectiveness of our method in several real-world rendering scenarios with a variety of different physical phenomena.
