Radiosity – A Reimplementation of the Cornell Box

Team: Julio Espinal, Nicholas Wilsey
Class: Computer Graphics II (4003-571/4005-762)
Professor: Reynold Bailey


The goal of this project is to recreate the classic Cornell Box, created at Cornell University and pictured above, using the global illumination technique of radiosity. Ultimately, this is a reimplementation of the rendering pipeline, using a specific technique to calculate the effects of the light source.

Project Objectives:

• Implementation of a complete radiosity solution.
• And if there is time:
• Mergence of radiosity and ray-tracing together into a single solution.
• Creating a progressively refined solution as the camera moves through a scene.
• Implementation of a parallel computing solution to calculating the form-factor.
  

Software Used:

• C++
• OpenGL, GLUT
• OpenGL and GLUT compatible operating systems

Hardware Used:

• x86 Architecture
• OpenGL v.1.4 compatible GPUs
• 24-bit Color Display (at a minimum)

Project Components:

• Scene-file input/output library with pre-calculated patch definitions.
• Data structures library for all needed structures.
• Hemi-cube implementation for form-factor determination.
• Implementation of a progressive refinement radiosity algorithm.
• And if there is time:
• Interactive GUI, through which users may alter scene parameters.

Project Responsibilities:

Julio: Implementation of scene-file input/output library.
Nicholas: Implementation of data structures library.

After completing our initial responsibilities, we plan to come together to accomplish this project’s additional components.

Project Timeline:

• Week 3:
• Complete needed research.
  


• Week 4:
  • Complete scene setup from file, including pre-calculated patches.
  • Complete implementation of data structures needed.
  
  
• Week 5:
• Begin implementation of form-factor determinant (hemi-cube).


• Week 6:
• Complete implementation of form-factor determinant.
• (Mid-Quarter Review Due)


• Week 7:
• Begin implementation of progressive refinement radiosity algorithm.


• Week 8:
• Complete implementation of radiosity algorithm.
• Begin implementation of any extra components.


• Week 9:
• Complete any implementation of extra components.
• (Presentations Begin)


• Week 10:
• (Presentations Continue)


• Week 11:
• (Project Materials Due)

Final Presentation:

We will present a short PowerPoint presentation that briefly describes our project, and then present the implementation of our topic through the room’s projector, using our computer.