Early 3D shapes were wire frame representations of geometric shapes and it was possible to see the back of the object as well as the front. Several advances were made and several hidden surface algorithms created so that a solid object could be rendered and look authentic. Algorithms were developed in the 1970’s too for display of curved surfaces and shading.
In 1978 Blinn did a simulation of wrinkled surfaces.
Whitted developed ray tracing in 1980 .
Goral, Torrance, Greenberg and Bataille developed radiosity in 1984. They modelled the interaction of light between diffuse surfaces.
New solutions for improving the speed of rendering and the photorealism are constantly being developed
Filed under: Radiosity and Ray Tracing
