Photorealistic computer generated holography with global illumination and path tracing

Computer generated holography (CGH) algorithms come in many forms, with different trade-offs in terms of visual quality and calculation speed. However, no CGH algorithm to date can accurately account for all 3D visual cues simultaneously, such as occlusion, shadows, continuous parallax, and precise focal cues, without view discretization. The aim is to create photorealistic CGH content, not only for display purposes but also to create reference data for comparing and testing CGH and compression algorithms. We propose a novel algorithm combining the precision of point-based CGH with the accurate shading and flexibility of ray-tracing algorithms. We demonstrate this by creating a scene with global illumination, soft shadows, and precise occlusion cues, implemented with OptiX and CUDA. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement