Lighting Design in Low-Cost Immersive Systems

Juan A. Magallon, Emilio J. Sobreviela, Francisco J. Serón, Diego Gutierrez

Abstract: GIGA (the Advanced Computer Graphics Group from the University of Zaragoza) has developed two packages, code-named ALEPH and SICARA3D. Those systems are capable of both calculating light distribution in complex environments, based on a rigorous simulation of the physical phenomena involved, and visualizing the results in a photorealistic way, including models of the HVS (human visual system) implemented in a third package code-named S/spl middot/E/spl middot/K/spl middot/E/spl middot/R. Our systems support, as a remarkable difference with respect to all other known systems like RADIANCE ([G.J. Ward, (1994)]), a spectral management of lighting magnitudes, instead of working with simple RGB. We have also added to this framework the power of low-cost CAVE immersive systems. With this combination, we include stereoscopy and a collaborative environment to the reliability of the numerical results and the realistic aspect of the imagery.