1. [Publications](/publications) 2. Phenomenological Transparency # Phenomenological Transparency ![](/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/pubs/2017-03_Phenomenological-Transparency/icon.png?itok=Be-jk9AY) Translucent objects such as fog, clouds, smoke, glass, ice, and liquids are pervasive in cinematic environments because they frame scenes in depth and create visually-compelling shots. Unfortunately, they are hard to render in real-time and have thus previously been rendered poorly compared to opaque surfaces. This paper describes a model for a real-time rasterization algorithm that can simultaneously approximate the following transparency phenomena: wavelength-varying ("colored") transmission, translucent colored shadows, caustics, volumetric light and shadowing, partial coverage, diffusion, and refraction. All render efficiently with order-independent draw calls and low bandwidth. We include source code. ## Authors Morgan McGuire (NVIDIA) Michael Mara (NVIDIA) ## Publication Date Wednesday, March 1, 2017 ## Published in [IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics](https://www.computer.org/web/tvcg) ## Research Area [Computer Graphics](/research-area/computer-graphics) ## External Links [Video Results](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ycz303HV_A) ## Uploaded Files [Paper preprint](https://research.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/pubs/2017-03_Phenomenological-Transparency/McGuire2017Transparency.pdf "Open file in new window")39.46 MB ## Copyright This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to .