Forward Shadow Mapping

Abstract

Forward shadow mapping is a new approach to real-time shadow generation. The traditional shadow map algorithm maps the pixels in the eye’s view backward into the depth buffers of light sources (i.e. shadow maps), which is similiar to and often implemented as an extension to texture mapping. Our algorithm reverses this process by using 3-D image warping techniques to transform shadow map pixels forward into the eye’s view to directly indicate which pixels are lit; it does not interfere with normal texture mapping and easily supports antialiased shadow edges and projective textures. Access to shadow maps and projective textures is in pixel-sequential order. This algorithm has advantages when speed of texture mapping becomes the performance bottleneck, which is often the case in visual simulation and game applications.