An Application of Spectroscopy to Ray-Tracing Rendering

The following renders were created by Luxrender's Terrence Vergauwen based on the author's spectral distribution data (SPD) data found in The Double Amici Prism Spectroscope and on other data the author provided the Luxrender development team with. The conversion process can be summarized as follows:

renders.gif
Complete conversion process diagram for final scenes

The success of these renders can be ascertained by comparing them with actual photos of scenes illuminated by some of these lamps in The Author's Lamp Collection document. In the author's opinion, the renders on this page, easily cross the boundary between real and imaginary, hence they can justifiably be called supremely beautiful, in the aesthetic sense. (All photos below property and courtesy of Terrence Vergauwen of Luxrender).


mercury.jpg
Room illuminated by a Clear High Pressure Mercury Vapor lamp. SPD: [1.4.1].

tri.jpg
Room illuminated by four bi-component warm triphosphor fluorescents lamps. SPD: [1.3.3].

xenonflash.jpg
Room illuminated by a xenon flash. SPD: [1.12.1].

natural.jpg
Room illuminated by four cool triphosphor Philips ActiViva Natural lamps. SPD: [1.3.8].

zinc.jpg
Room illuminated by a zinc lamp. SPD: [1.8.4].

The following renders were made based on the author's SPD and additional data for the zinc lamp the author provided the developers with.
zinclamps.jpg
Zinc lamps diagram render, based on structural data the author provided the developers with.

zinclampslit.jpg
Zinc lamps diagram render, with one lamp lit and the other lamps resonating. SPD: [1.8.4].

bulbs.jpg
From left to right: zinc, rubidium and mercury lamps. SPD: [1.8.4], [1.8.2] and [1.4.1].

bulbs2.jpg
From left to right: metal halide (Hg/Na/In/Tl), argon and xenon flash lamps. SPD: [1.6.1], [1.9.5] and [1.12.1].

bulbs3.jpg
From left to right: daylight halophosphate fluorescent, warm-white halophosphate fluorescent and bi-component triphosphor fluorescent lamps. SPD: [1.3.1], [1.3.2] and [1.3.3].

bulbs4.jpg
Random selection from the categories HPM, MH and various other categories, with Wattage taken into account.

bulbs5.jpg
Diode section. Blue LED, Red Diode Laser and Green Laser. SPD: [1.7.1], [1.7.2] and [1.7.3].

allbulbs.jpg
All the lamps shown in The Double Amici Prism Spectroscope document, from top to bottom and left to right.
It's a fairly good exercise in color science to try to match each lamp separately with the corresponding spectrum on the previous page.

All the spectra on The Double Amici Prism Spectroscope page have been reverse-engineered by a Luxrender user. For details, check Luxrender forum's Lamp Spectra Page (requires free registration).