Direct Light

Direct light, is light that travels straight from the light source to an object in a 3D scene, and so illuminates that object for the viewer. It refers to normal or raytraced lighting equally, and is the easiest type of lighting to generate.

Indirect light by contrast, occurs through radiosity - diffuse illumination or diffuse reflection that occurs when light hitting one object is reflected on to other objects. This adds additional calculation overhead such that every object is treated as a secondary light source much weaker than the first. Understandably, as the number of objects in the scene increases, the calculations required quickly approach infinite levels, especially if secondary or tertiary reflections are to be considered.

For now, direct light is usually the only method considered in real-time rendering, when many frames have to be rendered every second.

See Also: Caustic Shading, Diffuse Interreflection, Progressive Radiosity, Hierarchical Radiosity, Radiosity, Caustics, Lighting Pass, Anisotropic Shading, Raycasting, Raytracing, Frame Rate

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Direct Light Indirect Light

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Large Image Display: Animatrix: Beyond: A Broken, Glowing Light
n a broken part of the ruin of an area of heavy file corruption, a light flickers. Upon closer inspection, it's a broken light bulb, hanging from a rusty chain. Yet every so often, the ghost of an intact bulb, shinning brightly, overlays the broken one perfectly.

VR Cultural Icons: Lightcycles
Light cycles are an icon of VR, that crop up again and again, in all manner of media. Two-wheeled motorcycles that leave a solid wall of light behind them, as a type of exhaust.

The Real Virtual Light
Virtual Light, a term coined to describe seeing without eyes, is something that has been semi-mythical for decades, whilst research quietly moves forwards. Now, we are starting to see a convergence of the technologies vital to making it a reality.

VR Interfaces: Wii light-gun attachment

Announced just one day after the Nintendo Wii itself, at E3 2006?s second day, the Nintendi Wii light-gun attachment connects directly to the back of the Nintendo Wii-mote immersion controller.

Virtual Light

Virtual Light is classic Cyberpunk in every sense: it is dark, and gritty, a surreal near-future world that sets you on edge, and both the main characters have sunk as low as it is possible to go, before attempting to change the world for the better.

Connecting Twitter to a Light Display
An augmented reality exercise for the London Olympics - connect the lights of the London Eye up to twitter, and scan all the feeds simultaneously for mentions of them. Positive toned comments light bulbs. Negative toned comments turn bulbs off.

Cameras Without Lenses
It sounds odd to think of cameras without lenses to focus the light, because cameras have continually been created with intent to replicate the eye, and the eye has a lens. Without a lens, how do you focus light? Well you don't, but that's ok, because you don't have to.

Approval sought for Brain Implant

BrainGate. By now, its become almost a household name in neuralscience. This short news snippet from November 2003 is part of a series, chronicling the development of this direct interface system.

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