Physically Based Skin Textures for Real-Time Rendering

Abstract

Digital characters have become commonplace in movies and videogames. Having realistic, or rather, convincing, characters allow us to connect with them on a deeper level and become fully engaged with the narrative. Currently, these characters are either created by hand, or scanned using cameras. While they produce highly convincing 3D models, they are not without disadvantages. One of the main drawbacks is that these methods do not incorporate any underlying biology and therefore cannot simulate certain biological effects we normally expect in real humans. We expect faces to flush when angry or embarrassed, or skin to tan over time with sun exposure. We expect certain fine details to appear when we zoom in, which might not be present due to the limited resolution of scans, or the time spent by the character artist. This thesis addresses these issues by presenting a method that is able to generate skin for virtual characters. This method is based on accurate biological models of human skin and can be converted into textures and shaders for use in any rendering pipeline, whether they be game engines, production-, or real-time renderers. This method allows the capability of creating realistic skin for virtual characters, and life-like animation, into the hands of everyone.