Do we lose any fidelity in our rendering by assuming that air is a vacuum and does not affect the rays?
Staffkatamarisun
We don't lose fidelity per se; it will technically be an accurate render, albeit unrealistic and obviously computer-generated. "Volumetric Path Tracing" are techniques that involve atmospheric influences and properly account for air, fog, and other volumetric effects:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volumetric_path_tracing
sandykzhang
So when atmospheric influences and volumetric effects are accounted for, is the absorption/reflection/refraction of light as it passes through space responsible for making it so that radiance is no longer invariant along a ray?
Do we lose any fidelity in our rendering by assuming that air is a vacuum and does not affect the rays?
We don't lose fidelity per se; it will technically be an accurate render, albeit unrealistic and obviously computer-generated. "Volumetric Path Tracing" are techniques that involve atmospheric influences and properly account for air, fog, and other volumetric effects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volumetric_path_tracing
So when atmospheric influences and volumetric effects are accounted for, is the absorption/reflection/refraction of light as it passes through space responsible for making it so that radiance is no longer invariant along a ray?