Virtual Reflections
For a photorealistic appearance of virtual objects rendered in augmented and virtual reality environments global illumination must be simulated. We have developed a simple but effective real-time technique for rendering reflections of real scenes on virtual objects.
The basic technique to create these virtual reflections is to estimate the environment of a virtual object by extracting information from the image to be augmented. Based on this estimated environment, cube map textures are generated and applied during rendering to simulate reflections on the virtual object.
Virtual reflections: (left) real user reflected on specular surface of virtual car, and
(right) illustraion of the workbench virtual reality setup.
We have applied our technique to simulate reflections in augmented reality (AR) environments, as well as in a workbench system. Objects displayed on the workbench appear much more realistic if they reflect their surroundings.