US-20260127808-A1 - METHODS FOR RENDERING AN IMAGE OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SCENE

US20260127808A1US 20260127808 A1US20260127808 A1US 20260127808A1US-20260127808-A1

Abstract

A method for rendering an image of a three-dimensional scene using path tracing. For a current pixel of the image to be rendered using path tracing, an associated pixel is identified, associated with the current pixel, wherein at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing has been previously determined. The at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel is obtained, and used to determine at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel. The at least one determined parameter is output to control a rendering of the current pixel using path tracing.

Inventors

Matthias Sebastian Treder
Sebastian Alexander Lutz

Assignees

SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251107
Priority Date: 20241107

Claims (15)

1 . A computer-implemented method for rendering an image of a three-dimensional scene using path tracing, the method comprising, for a current pixel of the image to be rendered using path tracing: identifying an associated pixel associated with the current pixel, wherein at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing has been previously determined; obtaining the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing; determining at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel using the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel; and outputting the at least one determined parameter to control a rendering of the current pixel using path tracing.
2 . A computer-implemented method according claim 1 , the method comprising rendering the current pixel by performing path tracing using the at least one determined parameter.
3 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 2 , the method comprising generating the image of the three-dimensional scene using the rendered pixel.
4 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the associated pixel is determined using an artificial neural network, ANN.
5 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel is the same as the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel.
6 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel is determined using an ANN.
7 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the image of the current pixel is the same as the image of the associated pixel.
8 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 7 , wherein the current pixel is within a predetermined distance of the associated pixel.
9 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the image of the current pixel is different to the image of the associated pixel.
10 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 9 , wherein the image of the current pixel and the image of the associated pixel are images of the same scene at different times.
11 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 9 , wherein the image of the current pixel and the image of the associated pixel are frames of video.
12 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 11 , wherein the frame time of the image of the current pixel is within a predetermined time of the frame time of the image of the associated pixel.
13 . A computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein identifying the associated pixel comprises: obtaining scene feature data for the current pixel, the scene feature data indicating visual features of a location of the three-dimensional scene for depiction by the current pixel in the image; obtaining scene feature data for the associated pixel, the scene feature data indicating visual features of a location of the three-dimensional scene for depiction by the associated pixel in the image; and determining that the scene feature data for the current pixel corresponds to the scene feature data for the associated pixel.
14 . A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that store instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: for a current pixel of the image to be rendered using path tracing: identifying an associated pixel associated with the current pixel, wherein at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing has been previously determined; obtaining the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing; determining at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel using the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel; and outputting the at least one determined parameter to control a rendering of the current pixel using path tracing.
15 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media that store instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: for a current pixel of the image to be rendered using path tracing: identifying an associated pixel associated with the current pixel, wherein at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing has been previously determined; obtaining the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing; determining at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel using the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel; and outputting the at least one determined parameter to control a rendering of the current pixel using path tracing.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to European Application No. 24211535.0, filed Nov. 7, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure concerns computer-implemented methods for rendering images of three-dimensional scenes. In particular, but not exclusively, the disclosure concerns computer-implemented methods, computing devices and computer program products for rendering images of three-dimensional scenes using path tracing. BACKGROUND Rendering images or videos is a key component in many applications. For example, online gaming or virtual reality, VR, applications, which are increasingly popular forms of entertainment and social activity, involve the rendering of images of videos for display to a user. Rendering is a process of generating an image of a scene, which may include one or more three-dimensional models, e.g. representing objects in the scene. Light transport simulation using path tracing may be used in rendering to generate photorealistic images by simulating the way light interacts with objects. The paths of many rays of light are traced as they travel through a scene, reflecting, refracting, and scattering until they eventually hit a light source or fade away. This technique is widely used in computer graphics, particularly in movie production, architectural visualization, and video game development, due to its ability to produce high-quality images that closely resemble real-world lighting. Rasterization, a more traditional and computationally efficient rendering technique compared to path tracing, does not address complex light interactions such as indirect lighting, caustics, soft shadows, and colour bleeding, whereas path tracing produces all of these effects naturally due to a realistic light transport simulation. However, path tracing may be computationally expensive and time-consuming. The primary challenge arises from the need to trace a large number of paths to accurately capture the complex interactions of light in a scene. Each pixel in the image may require hundreds or thousands of samples (i.e. traced light paths) to reduce noise and achieve a visually appealing result. As an example, rendering an animated high-definition (HD) scene at 60 frames per second (fps) using path tracing with 100 samples per pixel (spp) requires 1280×720×100×60=5,529,600,000 traced paths per second. This intensive computational demand can make path tracing impractical for real-time or low latency applications. The present disclosure seeks to solve or mitigate some or all of these above-mentioned problems. Alternatively and/or additionally, aspects of the present disclosure seek to provide improved methods for rendering images of three-dimensional scenes. SUMMARY In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a computer-implemented method for rendering an image of a three-dimensional scene using path tracing, the method comprising, for a current pixel of the image to be rendered using path tracing: identifying an associated pixel associated with the current pixel, wherein at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing has been previously determined;obtaining the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing;determining at least one parameter for rendering the current pixel using the at least one parameter for rendering the associated pixel; andoutputting the at least one determined parameter to control a rendering of the current pixel using path tracing. In this way, the parameters for path tracing the associated pixel that have been determined on a previous occasion can be used to determine the parameters for the current pixel, avoiding the parameters for the current pixel having to be determined from scratch, and so saving computing resources. Such parameters may for example define the amount of computing resources to use to path trace the pixels. However, any other appropriate parameters for rendering the associated pixel using path tracing may be used. In some cases, the at least one parameter for rendering a given pixel (e.g. the current pixel and/or the associated pixel) comprises a parameter indicating whether or not path tracing is to be performed for the given pixel. The given pixel may be rendered using rasterization instead of path tracing, for example, if it is determined (e.g. based on the scene content to be depicted by the given pixel) that path tracing would be unnecessary and/or inefficient for rendering the given pixel. Accordingly, a determination may be made on whether or not to perform path tracing for the current pixel based on whether or not path tracing is to be (or has been) performed for the associated pixel. In embodiments, the method comprises rendering the current pixel by performing path tracing using the at least one determined parameter. The path tracing may be performed by a light simul