Talk:Subsurface scattering

Error

The depth map contains the distance between light and the nearest surface of the object, not the furthest. Source: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems/gpugems_ch16.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.177.162.221 (talk) 12:09, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Example image

The current example image is just bad. We need a good shot, both with and without SSS for comparison. The current image does not help at all in explaining or clarifying the article. Mazin07^C₪_T 20:27, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Examples of materials where SSS is used

Isn't Marble pretty opaque? How does SSS come in to play with an object that is typically completely opaque and flat? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Darkhelmet41290 (talk • contribs) 17:31, 8 September 2016 (UTC)

No, marble is quite translucent! Any easy test is to turn off the lights and shine a laser pointer at it. If you see just the dot reflected off the surface, it's opaque, if you see the whole block light up then it is very translucent. Meekohi (talk) 18:09, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

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I have moved here the just added resources section because, in the current format, does not respect any citation style. It is also too lenghty and not useful without some comments.ALoopingIcon 05:44, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

==Ressources==
* Efficient Rendering of Local Subsurface Scattering
** by Tom Mertens, Jan Kautz, Philippe Bekaert, Frank Van Reeth, Hans-Peter Seide
* Interactive Rendering of Translucent Deformable Objects
** by Tom Mertensy, Jan Kautzz, Philippe Bekaerty, Hans-Peter Seidelz, Frank Van Reethy
* A Computational Approach to Simulate Subsurface Light Diffusion in Arbitrarily Shaped Objects
** by Tom Haber, Tom Mertens, Philippe Bekaert, Frank Van Reeth
* Interactive Rendering of Translucent Objects
** by Hendrik P.A. Lensch, Michael Goesele, Philippe Bekaert, Jan Kautz, Marcus A. Magnor , Jochen Lang, Hans-Peter Seidel
* A Practical Model for Subsurface Light Transport
** by Henrik Wann Jensen, Stephen R. Marschner, Marc Levoy, Pat Hanrahan
* A Rapid Hierarchical Rendering Technique for Translucent Materials
** by Henrik Wann Jensen, Juan Buhler
* Light Diffusion in Multi-Layered Translucent Materials
** by Craig Donner, Henrik Wann Jensen
* A Hybrid Monte Carlo Method for Accurate and Efficient Subsurface Scattering
** by Hongsong Li, Fabio Pellacini, Kenneth Torrance
* Revisiting the Foundations of Subsurface Scattering
** Gladimir V. G. Baranoski, Aravind Krishnaswamy, Bradley Kimmel
* Translucent Shadow Maps
** by Carsten Dachsbachery, Marc Stammingerz
===realtime===
* Local, Deformable Precomputed Radiance Transfer
** by Peter-Pike Sloan, Ben Luna, John Snyder
* Real-Time Skin Rendering on Graphics Hardware
** by Pedro V. Sander, David Gosselin, Jason L. Mitchell
* Real–Time Rendering of Translucent Meshes
** by XUEJUN HAO, AMITABH VARSHNEY
* GPU Algorithms for Radiosity and Subsurface Scattering
** by Nathan A. Carr, Jesse D. Hall, John C. Hart

Offline Rendering

This article doesn't really discuss offline rendering methods, only real-time rendering methods, which is an on-going area of research. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.118.248.100 (talk) 03:13, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Before this comment, "The Matrix Reloaded"-info/link was already in the article. "Offline" isn't explicitly in that article (or the WP one). "Ray tracing" (RT) is, but not in th WP article (RT is most commonly an offline technique).

I'm trying to understand myself if subsurface scattering is something you get for free (as most other graphics..) with ray-tracing (the methods without seem like a hack). Anyone know? I have to read more in detail to know the methods used, combined with(?) ray-tracing, or just without. For something like glass, ray tracing, gets you two rays, one that goes through the surface, but, say skin seems more complicated. Maybe you get it for free, but need to have layers of skin? Do you need that anyway with the other methods? comp.arch (talk) 11:49, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

"[...] only account for the interaction of light at the surface of an object [...]"

This passage seems wrong:

Most materials used in real-time computer graphics today only account for the interaction of light at the surface of an object. In reality, many materials are slightly translucent: light enters the surface; is absorbed, scattered and re-emitted – potentially at a different point. Skin is a good case in point; only about 6% of reflectance is direct, 94% is from subsurface scattering.

It's not that they don't account for subsurface scattering, but rather, that they approximate it with increased direct reflectance. (They don't show skin as reflecting only 6% of the light that it's supposed to !)

—Ruakh_TALK 20:00, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

Yeah I was confused too, when I went to the source looking for that the 94%/6% figures I couldn't find them anywhere. It might have missed something but my guess would be mistaken attribution or else misinterpretation of the numbers. Foggalong (talk) 14:45, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Terminology

Are there any sources that use the term "subdermal scattering" as opposed to "subsurface"? It seems like a rather intuitive piece of terminology since skin is the primary subject where this becomes relevant but I can't really find that much online using that exact term. Orchastrattor (talk) 17:58, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Not any in a graphics context that I am aware of. I'd assume you only see that terminology when specifically referring to skin. There are many examples of subsurface scattering that don't relate to skin. Meekohi (talk) 18:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)