Photorealistic rendering for augmented reality

This paper explores an image-based approach to improve photorealism for rendering synthetic objects in augmented reality. It uses pre-filtered high-dynamic range environment maps of the real scene, containing real lighting information, to render diffuse and glossy virtual objects with a multi-pass technique via texture mapping operation. In addition, the light sources, required for soft shadows generation, can be estimated from the maps. Soft shadows are added to the virtual objects using shadow buffer technique, which can utilize graphics hardware. This work can be beneficial for ARToolkit development in improving photorealism of virtual objects.