Light-in-Fog Computer Simulation Is Ultra Realistic and Cheap

Now your computer can simulate the movement of light through fog in a way that will easily fool the untrained eye. Using new "photon mapping" algorithms that map how light would bounce off water particles in the air (i.e. fog), UC San Diego computer scientists can now whip up a quick, realistic fog world for a videogame or movie without a lot of expensive computer power. Compare the photon mapped image above, with what the same amount of computing power would have produced without the algorithm, below. More »