The Aristotelian Rainbow: From Philosophy to Computer Graphics |
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| Abstract | Developments in the graphics discipline called realistic image
synthesis are in many ways related to the historical development of
theories of light. And theories of light will probably continue to
inspire the ongoing search for realism in graphics. To nurture this
inspiration, we present the first in-depth, source-based historical
study that pinpoints events with relevance for graphics in the
development of theories of light. We also show that ancient
mathematical models for light scattering phenomena may still find a
use in the branch of realistic image synthesis concerned with
real-time rendering. As an example we use Aristotle's theory of
rainbow formation to construct a method for real-time rendering of
rainbows. This example serves as an invitation to use the overview
and references provided in this paper, not only for understanding
where many of the physical concepts used in graphics come from, but
also for finding more mathematical and physical models that are
useful in graphics. |
| Keywords | History, philosophy, realistic image synthesis |
| Type | Conference paper [With referee] |
| Conference | Proceedings of GRAPHITE 2007 |
| Year | 2007 Month December pp. 119-128+311 |
| Publisher | ACM |
| ISBN / ISSN | 9781595939128 |
| Electronic version(s) | [pdf] |
| BibTeX data | [bibtex] |
| IMM Group(s) | Image Analysis & Computer Graphics |