Essay: The Importance Of Lighting

Abstract
The importance of lighting in games is unquestionably tremendous. Not to mention we need to see what we’re doing, but to generate a great degree of realism, the lighting too needs to be as realistic. The correct depiction of interaction of light with different surfaces is required. The complexities that arise from trying to render global illumination is multiplied tenfold when the environment itself is interactive, as opposed to it just being there in the background. This is further complicated when the issue of rendering caustics is considered, as this can only be satisfactorily achieved if the light rays (or photons) are traced right back to their sources. The aim of our contribution is to provide a review of the currently used techniques

Thus the screen image could potentially change multiple times in a single second itself. Any delay in this matter is simply unacceptable. For example, it makes no sense if your racing car responds to your commands telling it to turn, but after a few seconds, just to ensure the scene has been rendered to look realistic enough.
2. Caustics
Caustics are patterns formed when light reflects or refracts from some specular or curved surface, and thus focus only on certain areas of the receiving non-specular surface. These are most commonly found on the floors of swimming pools and bath tubs, assuming the water is clean enough to see through. There are two kinds of caustics possible, catacaustics and diacaustic.
Catacaustics are formed by the reflection of light via a curved specular surface. These can be observed at the base of a glass, where the light gets diagonally reflected onto the bottom of the glass.
Diacaustic are the more fascinating. They occur when light refracts through a transparent specular body, like water. These are especially pleasing when the water is not still, and the focus of the light keeps on changing at the receiving surface as a