Temporal Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion

GPU Pro 2 ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Jop Vermeer ◽  
Leonardo Scandolo ◽  
Elmar Eisemann

Ambient occlusion (AO) is a popular rendering technique that enhances depth perception and realism by darkening locations that are less exposed to ambient light (e.g., corners and creases). In real-time applications, screen-space variants, relying on the depth buffer, are used due to their high performance and good visual quality. However, these only take visible surfaces into account, resulting in inconsistencies, especially during motion. Stochastic-Depth Ambient Occlusion is a novel AO algorithm that accounts for occluded geometry by relying on a stochastic depth map, capturing multiple scene layers per pixel at random. Hereby, we efficiently gather missing information in order to improve upon the accuracy and spatial stability of conventional screen-space approximations, while maintaining real-time performance. Our approach integrates well into existing rendering pipelines and improves the robustness of many different AO techniques, including multi-view solutions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Robert Sajko ◽  
Zeljka Mihajlovic

The quality of computer rendering and perception of realism greatly depend on the shading method used to implement the interaction of light with the surfaces of objects in a scene. Ambient occlusion (AO) enhances the realistic impression of rendered objects and scenes. Properties that make Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) interesting for real-time graphics are scene complexity independence, and support for fully dynamic scenes. However, there are also important issues with current approaches: poor texture cache use, introduction of noise, and performance swings. In this paper, a straightforward solution is presented. Instead of a traditional, geometry-based sampling method, a novel, image-based sampling method is developed, coupled with a revised heuristic function for computing occlusion. Proposed algorithm harnessing GPU power improves texture cache use and reduces aliasing artifacts. Two implementations are developed, traditional and novel, and their comparison reveals improved performance and quality of the proposed algorithm.


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