[HN Gopher] Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implement...
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       Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation
        
       Author : alasr
       Score  : 139 points
       Date   : 2022-03-17 18:03 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.pbr-book.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.pbr-book.org)
        
       | ninkendo wrote:
       | "Physically Based" always seemed to be a grammatical error to me.
       | 
       | "Physically" is an adverb, which should modify an adjective or
       | verb. So parsing the phrase, "physically based" implies that
       | "based" is used as an adjective or verb, which would imply that
       | "physically based rendering" is a special form of "based
       | rendering", which makes no sense.
       | 
       | "What kind of rendering is it? Based rendering. What kind of
       | Based rendering? Well, Physically Based, of course."
       | 
       | It should probably instead be "physics based rendering", right?
       | 
       | Edit: english.stackexchange seems to agree, although it's closed
       | as offtopic:
       | https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/165416/is-physic...
        
       | blenderdt wrote:
       | This book looks really great but also advanced.
       | 
       | If you would like to take some first steps into this domain I can
       | recommend Ray Tracing in One Weekend [1]. Not only will you learn
       | how to write a path tracer, but it also touches on things like
       | motion blur and animation. For me it was one of the best starting
       | points because it was very simple to follow.
       | 
       | [1] https://raytracing.github.io/
        
       | tylermw wrote:
       | Note: the 4th edition of this book will likely be out by the end
       | of this year, and cover GPU pathtracing. (I believe the free web
       | edition will be released a few months after the hardback)
       | 
       | The Early Release (still in-development) version of pbrt-v4 can
       | be found here:
       | 
       | https://github.com/mmp/pbrt-v4
        
         | aardvark179 wrote:
         | Oh excellent. That's something I will definitely look at. I
         | remember having a lot of fun with some of the pbr exercises
         | many years ago, and haven't had a chance to look at how to this
         | sort of stuff efficiently on GPUs.
        
         | going_ham wrote:
         | I am eagerly waiting to buy one. I am extremely lucky that I
         | took stellar graphics courses during my university years. These
         | have by far been the most awesome things that I have done in
         | computer science. The high one can get from having a good
         | render out of light simulation in immensely pleasing.
         | 
         | If any of you have time to go through the book, go through it
         | slowly and carefully. There are a lot of nuances that isn't
         | apparent on the first attempt. It is comprehensible to most of
         | us. The authors have exclusively marked the chapters that can
         | be skipped on the first run. No matter how many times one goes
         | through the book, it will still feel like a gem!
        
       | pixelpoet wrote:
       | Ahhh, the 2nd rendering bible, together with Eric Veach's thesis:
       | https://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/veach_thesis/
       | 
       | I've spent my entire life studying this stuff and feel extremely
       | lucky on so many levels: that we have these incredible computers
       | which can actually do the computation, that we happen to have
       | such a powerful theory that can model and even predict visual
       | reality, and perhaps most of all, that a single person can learn
       | all this stuff and carry it around with them everyday - it's
       | really changed how I see the world.
       | 
       | My deepest thanks go to those who have developed and passed all
       | this on through their papers and books; it's literally what I'm
       | getting the meaning of life from.
        
         | blenderdt wrote:
         | What I also think is amazing is that algorithms improve all the
         | time. For example the Blender Cycles render engine has been
         | rewritten lately. Using the latest knowlegde and algorithms it
         | is now more than twice as fast.
        
           | pixelpoet wrote:
           | Yep, and that design had been presented ages ago[0] already
           | by the Finnish geniuses who basically designed Nvidia's ray
           | tracing tech[1] (as well as the state of the art in GANs[2]),
           | and even implemented in some lesser-known renderers like
           | Indigo Renderer :)
           | 
           | These days the most exciting research I think is in path
           | guiding and many-light sampling techniques.
           | 
           | [0] https://research.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/pubs/2013
           | -07...
           | 
           | [1] https://research.nvidia.com/publication/understanding-
           | effici...
           | 
           | [2] https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2021-06_Alias-
           | Free-G...
        
       | tcook_sucks_xie wrote:
       | If you're interested in PBR in addition to this book I've found
       | the filament write up on their method extremely useful too
       | https://google.github.io/filament/Filament.md.html
        
       | dddnzzz334 wrote:
       | So, can I just start reading this book chapter-by-chapter
       | implementing what I learnt in a language of my choice? What is
       | the optimal way to go through this book?
        
         | falcolas wrote:
         | The one thing to keep in mind is that even though it's written
         | in a literate programming style, it's not _in order_. So
         | implementation in your own language (say, Rust) is completely
         | possible, but it won 't be easy. Especially since the book's
         | code is optimized and idiomatic C++, and that can make it
         | challenging to get past the borrow checker.
        
         | going_ham wrote:
         | Totally, you can do it. But the book is so huge that you will
         | miss most of the details. However, you can use it as reference.
         | First follow the ray tracing in one weekend to get the overall
         | idea of path tracing. Then you can start with PBRT.
         | 
         | As for language of choice, anything will be fine. The book will
         | build up a solid foundation. The only thing that can stop you
         | is the amount of frustration which you may face when not
         | figuring out the things. It can be confusing at times, but
         | please give your time and let it sink in. After sometimes, you
         | can review it with a completely fresh eyes and you may fix a
         | lot of issues!
         | 
         | Goodluck!
        
       | magicalhippo wrote:
       | One of the best technical books I've read. A lot of books on the
       | subject are math heavy but lacking in implementation detail,
       | others gloss over the math and implement the easy stuff.
       | 
       | This book has a great mix IMHO, going into the math as well as
       | tricky implementation details yet in a very approachable manner.
       | 
       | Lots of great times were had as a result of this book.
        
       | dannyz wrote:
       | I always love seeing PBR here. I work in atmospheric science, in
       | particular modelling of radiation in the atmosphere, and the
       | equations that we use are identical to that of PBR. The main
       | difference is that in the atmosphere you are more concerned with
       | processes along the ray, e.g. Rayleigh scattering, clouds, or
       | absorption/emission from trace species in the atmosphere, while
       | in rendering it is all about surface effects.
        
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