ABSTRACT
Visual realism requires the stimulation of the visual system in a manner consistent with natural image formation, so that the visual system can extract the same kinds of information from the artificial stimulus that are available in the real world. In this chapter, the authors attempt to show that visual realism in the portrayal of three-dimensional virtual scenes can be improved by a better understanding both of the aspects of the real world that are visually informative and also of the sensitivities and limitations of the visual system itself. The authors offer a demonstration of how a better understanding and modelling of natural light-surface interaction can result in images which are perceptually more appealing, stable and informative. They provide an introduction to the radiosity method, which has been developed over the last ten years to accurately simulate how light bounces between surfaces in natural scenes.
