mitsuba/doc/section_bsdf.tex

\newpage
\subsection{Surface scattering models}
\begin{figure}[h!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=15.5cm]{images/bsdf_overview.pdf}
\caption{
    Schematic overview of the most important surface scattering models in
    Mitsuba (shown in the style of Weidlich and Wilkie \cite{Weidlich2007Arbitrarily}). The arrows indicate possible outcomes of an
    interaction with a surface that has the respective model applied to it.
    \vspace{4mm}
}
\end{figure}

\label{sec:bsdfs}
Surface scattering models describe the manner in which light interacts
with surfaces in the scene. They conveniently summarize the mesoscopic
scattering processes that take place within the material and
cause it to look the way it does.
This represents one central component of the material system in Mitsuba---another
part of the renderer concerns itself with what happens
\emph{in between} surface interactions. For more information on this aspect,
please refer to Sections~\ref{sec:media} and \ref{sec:subsurface}.
This section presents an overview of all surface scattering models that are
supported, along with their parameters.

\subsubsection*{BSDFs}
To achieve realistic results, Mitsuba comes with a library of both
general-purpose surface scattering models (smooth or rough glass, metal,
plastic, etc.) and specializations to particular materials (woven cloth,
masks, etc.). Some model plugins fit neither category and can best be described
as \emph{modifiers} that are applied on top of one or more scattering models.

Throughout the documentation and within the scene description
language,  the word \emph{BSDF} is used synonymously with the term ``surface
scattering model''. This is an abbreviation for \emph{Bidirectional
Scattering Distribution Function}, a more precise technical
term.

In Mitsuba, BSDFs are
assigned to \emph{shapes}, which describe the visible surfaces in
the scene. In the scene description language, this assignment can
either be performed by nesting BSDFs within shapes, or they can
be named and then later referenced by their name.
The following fragment shows an example of both kinds of usages:
\begin{xml}
<scene version=$\MtsVer$>
    <!-- Creating a named BSDF for later use -->
    <bsdf type=".. BSDF type .." id="myNamedMaterial">
        <!-- BSDF parameters go here -->
    </bsdf>

    <shape type="sphere">
        <!-- Example of referencing a named material -->
        <ref id="myNamedMaterial"/>
    </shape>

    <shape type="sphere">
        <!-- Example of instantiating an unnamed material -->
        <bsdf type=".. BSDF type ..">
            <!-- BSDF parameters go here -->
        </bsdf>
    </shape>
</scene>
\end{xml}
It is generally more economical to use named BSDFs when they
are used in several places, since this reduces Mitsuba's internal
memory usage.
\subsubsection*{Correctness considerations}
\begin{figure}[b!]
\centering
\vspace{-5mm}
\includegraphics[width=15cm]{images/glass_explanation.pdf}
\vspace{-5mm}
\caption{
    \label{fig:glass-explanation}
    Some of the scattering models in Mitsuba need to know
    the indices of refraction on the exterior and interior-facing
    side of a surface.
    It is therefore important to decompose the mesh into meaningful
    separate surfaces corresponding to each index of refraction change.
    The example here shows such a decomposition for a water-filled Glass.
}
\end{figure}

A vital consideration when modeling a scene in a physically-based rendering
system is that the used materials do not violate physical properties, and
that their arrangement is meaningful. For instance, imagine having designed
an architectural interior scene that looks good except for a white desk that
seems a bit too dark. A closer inspection reveals that it uses a Lambertian
material with a diffuse reflectance of $0.9$.

In many rendering systems, it would be feasible to increase the
reflectance value above $1.0$ in such a situation. But in Mitsuba, even a
small surface that reflects a little more light than it receives will
likely break the available rendering algorithms, or cause them to produce otherwise
unpredictable results. In fact, the right solution in this case would be to switch to
a different the lighting setup that causes more illumination to be received by
the desk and then \emph{reduce} the material's reflectance---after all, it is quite unlikely that
one could find a real-world desk that reflects 90\% of all incident light.

As another example of the necessity for a meaningful material description, consider
the glass model illustrated in \figref{glass-explanation}. Here, careful thinking
is needed to decompose the object into boundaries that mark index of
refraction-changes. If this is done incorrectly and a beam of light can
potentially pass through a sequence of incompatible index of refraction changes (e.g. $1.00\to 1.33$
followed by $1.50\to1.33$), the output is undefined and will quite likely
even contain inaccuracies in parts of the scene that are far
away from the glass.