ABSTRACT
Photorealistic rendering is concerned with generating synthetic images that mimic how a scene would look if it were actually constructed and photographed. Computer graphics originated in the more humble problem of simply drawing pictures with a computer. As 3D rendering developed, primarily in the 1970s, it became apparent that computer-generated images lacked a certain realism. Indirect lighting was identified as a missing element, and beginning in the 1980s this drove research into global illumination methods.
