Communications of the ACM
Technical Perspective: The Intricate Dance of Fabric and Light
What is it about different materials, beyond their color, that gives them their characteristic appearance? Over the decades this fundamental question has given rise to a branch of computer graphics that can truly be called a science: the search to understand how complex materials interact with light. And as with any science, this understanding comes from the combination of sophisticated mathematical modeling and detailed experimental work.
As light encounters any material, it may be reflected, scattered, or absorbed. Producing accurate and believable computer graphics renderings requires algorithms that reproduce these interactions. In the simplest systems, the models for how light reflects from a surface are far from realistic, giving all surfaces the plastic appearance that has become so commonly associated with computer graphics. Curing this problem, especially for fabrics, requires a series of conceptual leaps, leading to more complex models and requiring more complex algorithms.
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