Light Propagation Volumes in CryEngine 3
đź“ś Abstract
This paper presents a new technique for real-time global illumination named Light Propagation Volumes, developed at Crytek for the CryENGINE 3 - a continuous evolution of the award-winning 3D engine known from Crysis and the acclaimed CryENGINE 2. Light Propagation Volumes introduce a novel method that approximates global illumination in a voxel representation. This technique achieves realistic lighting with indirect light propagation through scene geometry and allows for fully dynamic updates at runtime.
✨ Summary
Summary
The paper “Light Propagation Volumes in CryEngine 3” by Anton Kaplanyan presents a novel technique for rendering real-time global illumination (GI) in video games, named Light Propagation Volumes. Developed for CryEngine 3, it approximates GI using a voxel representation to simulate indirect lighting effects efficiently. This method is significant as it enables realistic lighting in highly dynamic environments, a crucial feature for modern 3D video games. Global illumination had traditionally been computationally expensive, making real-time applications impractical until techniques like Light Propagation Volumes emerged.
A web search does not reveal extensive direct academic references to this paper, but it is influential in the industry. Its contributions are reflected in subsequent development of real-time rendering technologies, influencing advancements in engines like Unreal Engine and Unity Citation 1. It marked a turning point in applying voxel-based lighting techniques in commercial game engines, potentially inspiring later real-time GI technologies like NVIDIA’s RTX ray tracing.
Although not widely cited in academic literature, its practical applications signify an essential contribution to the field of computer graphics and real-time rendering. The technique laid groundwork for further exploration into efficient GI solutions in dynamic 3D environments.