Real3D : A realistic real-time renderer

My PhD deals with measurement-based graphics i.e how to make photorealistic computer generated images from measurements of real-world materials. For 3D real-time applications these measurements are often reflectance maps, i.e pictures that describe how a surface reflects light. Several type of reflectance maps exists but the common ones are the diffuse map (main color of the material), the specular map (the color that shines from the surface), the roughness map (the less rough the surface the more it acts like a mirror) and the normal map i.e its local geometry.

Figure : Real 3D Interface. Rendering of a mirror with bumps in the Grace Cathedral environment [1].

Real3D let the user load reflectance maps to produce realistic renderings under a point light source and environmental illumination. It can also be used to make animations of the object and lights. Such a software is a very important tool to have when working in computer graphics and especially in rendering. Real3D is open source and available under the LGPL license. The source code and explanations on how to use it are also available on my Github.

---

References

[1] Light Probe Image Gallery . Paul Debevec http://www.pauldebevec.com/Probes/, accessed February 2016