arrow
Return

Computational Caustic Design for Surface Light Source

delete2025-11-17
delete0
PRE
AI
S
Sizhuo Zhou
Y
Y. Sun
B
Bailin Deng
张举勇 (Juyong Zhang)
DOI:10.1109/TVCG.2025.3633081delete
deleteOriginal
deleteOriginal request for help
deleteShare
deleteSave
Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Designing freeform surfaces to control light based on real-world illumination patterns is challenging, as existing caustic lens designs often assume oversimplified point or parallel light sources. We propose representing surface light sources using an optimized set of point sources, whose parameters are fitted to the real light source’s illumination using a novel differentiable rendering framework. Our physically-based rendering approach simulates light transmission using flux, without requiring prior knowledge of the light source’s intensity distribution. To efficiently explore the light source parameter space during optimization, we apply a contraction mapping that converts the constrained problem into an unconstrained one. Using the optimized light source model, we then design the freeform lens shape considering flux consistency and normal integrability. Simulations and physical experiments show our method more accurately represents real surface light sources compared to point-source approximations, yielding caustic lenses that produce images closely matching the target light distributions.
Keywords:
Differentiable rendering
surface optimization
light source modeling
computational design

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics cover
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
IF:
6.5
Papers:
309
Citations:
2.2W

Organization

C
cardiff university
Scholars:
2.8K
Papers: 1.5K
Citations: 0
U
university of science and technology of china
Scholars:
1.0W
Papers: 3.9K
Citations: 3