LightGraph is an efficient way of estimating multiple scattering in discrete high-resolution heterogeneous participating media. The approach is based on stochastically generated graphs that estimate how light propagates through the volume using shortest path finding.
This new method tries to provide a way of achieving high-quality photorealistic multiple scattering effects at a fraction of the computational cost of commonly used techniques in visual effects. The goal is not to be physically accurate nor is it to run in real-time, but to be a fast and reliable solution to allow quick turnarounds from a practical standpoint. The project is built on top of OpenVDB using their ray tracer implementation as a base. This work was done over the course of a semester in the context of IFT-6042 at the University of Montréal.
Details regarding this program can be found in the technical paper, and the full C/C++ implementation is available on GitHub:
