Photorealistic Rendering of Images Formed by Augmented Reality Optical Systems

Abstract

Stochastic ray tracing is used for rendering photorealistic images formed by augmented reality optical systems that combine the image generated by an optoelectronic device with the image of the environment. Methods for improving the efficiency of stochastic ray tracing that preserve the physical correctness of the simulation are proposed. Using a head-up display (HUD) as an example, it is shown that the forward stochastic ray tracing methods are sometimes more efficient than backward stochastic ray tracing methods for the visual simulation of augmented reality images. Approaches making it possible to combine the forward, backward, and bidirectional ray tracing in a unified simulation procedure are proposed. The results are illustrated by synthesized images produced by the optical system of head-up display.