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Abstract

Todays graphics hardware is capable of performing a large number
of operations at very high rates. Since most of the graphics chips
are designed in a pipelined fashion, e.g. similar to the OpenGL
rendering pipeline, it is necessary to utilize as many processing
units as possible to achieve high-quality results while keeping the
number of rendering passes needed at a minimum. In this paper we present an
algorithm that combines two well known algorithms in a very efficient
manner. One is the \textit{shadow mapping} technique that is used to compute a
shadow mask to determine lit and shadowed pixels. The second algorithm
is called \textit{light mapping} and is a common approach for rendering complex
light effects. These two are combined into a single
texture map which we call an \textit{extended light map}.
The benefit of this approach
is that nearly all stages of the graphics pipeline can be used during the
shadow map generation phase, which results in better image quality and
a reduced number of rendering passes.