Making Hair Realistic in Computer Animation

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On the left a computer-generated image of blond hair with only direct illumination. At right the same image rendered with the new algorithm that takes into account the multiple scattering of light through the hair. Direct illumination catches the hig ...
On the left, a computer-generated image of blond hair with only direct illumination. At right, the same image rendered with the new algorithm that takes into account the multiple scattering of light through the hair. Direct illumination catches the highlights but fails to show the true color. Credit: Marschner lab/Cornell University

Poets and novelists often describe hair as "shining" or "shimmering." Dark hair has a "sheen"; blond hair "glows." All this comes about because of the complex scattering of incident light off of individual hairs and from one hair to another.
Reproducing this effect in computer graphics has always been a challenge.


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