Optimized Shadow Mapping Using the Stencil Buffer

Abstract

Abstract Shadow maps and shadow volumes are common techniques for computing real-time shadows. We optimize the performance of a hardware-accelerated shadow mapping algorithm by rasterizing the light frustum into the stencil buffer, in a manner similar to the shadow volume algorithm. The pixel shader code that performs shadow tests and illumination computations is applied only to the pixels that are inside the light frustum. We also use deferred shading to further limit the operations to visible pixels. Our technique can be easily plugged into existing applications, and is especially useful for dynamic scenes that contain several local light sources. In our test scenarios, the overall frame rate was up to 2.2 times higher than for our comparison methods.