High-quality curve rendering using line sampled visibility

Abstract

Computing accurate visibility for thin primitives, such as hair strands, fur, grass, at all scales remains difficult or expensive. To that end, we present an efficient visibility algorithm based on spatial line sampling, and a novel intersection algorithm between line sample planes and Bézier splines with varying thickness. Our algorithm produces accurate visibility both when the projected width of the curve is a tiny fraction of a pixel, and when the projected width is tens of pixels. In addition, we present a rapid resolve procedure that computes final visibility. Using an optimized implementation running on graphics processors, we can render tens of thousands long hair strands with noise-free visibility at near-interactive rates.