Light sampling

[jeanphi]

Hi,

I've almost finished the rewrite of LightSamplingStrategy, it's 5% faster than the previous code, however it currently doesn't make much use of the shadow ray count. I wonder if that parameter is that usefull after all or if we should use the lights nSamples parameter. I'm going to test it some more and push the code.
The new interface will be usable for all light sampling operations (photon shooting, direct light sampling, light path sampling, whatever).

Jeanphi

[SATtva]

I wonder if that parameter is that usefull after all ...

Although it makes penumbra areas denoise much quicker, it's usually not penumbras are the main source of noise in the scene, so i agree its usefulness is limited to some edge cases only (or maybe i don't know how to make a proper use of it).

[J the Ninja]

I wonder if that parameter is that usefull after all ...

Although it makes penumbra areas denoise much quicker, it's usually not penumbras are the main source of noise in the scene, so i agree its usefulness is limited to some edge cases only (or maybe i don't know how to make a proper use of it).

Especially if we still have the nsamples parameter, you can always just crank that up if some light is giving you issues with penumbra noise.

[SATtva]

I believe we don't have this one exposed in LuxBlend now, right?

[J the Ninja]

2.5? They're all exposed, you have to hit "advanced" for the one of the integrator.

..Actually, we seem to be missing nsamples for mesh lights. They support it, right?

[SATtva]

I was talking about nsamples.

[J the Ninja]

It's available on the lamps, it's labeled "shadow ray samples". Just not on mesh lights for some reason

[jeanphi]

Hi,

Code pushed for you all to review and test.

Jeanphi

[J the Ninja]

Looks like there might be a bug with the infinite light? viewtopic.php?f=30&t=7488&start=10

Here's a quick test I did with the path integrator, since it lets you turn direct light sampling off completely:

direct light sampling on:

direct light sampling off:

[jeanphi]

Hi,

I'll have a look at it. Maybe EstimateDirect is not as fully compatible with the scheme as I first thought.

Jeanphi