Real-Time Realistic Rendering of Tissue Surface with Mucous Layer

This paper deals with the rendering issues of producing a realistic surgery simulation in real-time. In general, the visual fidelity of the simulator determines the degree of realism experienced by users. On top of the tissue, there is a mucous layer which is wet and semi-transparent. It significantly influences the surface appearance by reflecting and scattering incoming light rays. This paper describes a novel method to rendering such organs. It decomposes the incoming light into two parts, which include surface specular reflectance and subsurface scattering. First it uses bump mapping to disturb the surface normal in order to rendering the specular highlight. Then it uses an image-space algorithm to calculating the subsurface scattering contribution.