[Radiance-general] Testing rpict's -aa 0 option

[Mark Stock]

Hello,

After learning quite a bit about rpict's "other" options
while working on my image for SIGGRAPH, I decided to run
some tests to determine optimal settings for -ab, -ad
paramters, and required oversampling to achieve smooth
ambient results on surfaces, and smooth penumbras, given
the -aa 0 setting for ambient accuracy.

The page would be complete save for a few more renderings
that are in the works right now. Here is the link:

http://mark.technolope.org/radiance/aa0_test/final.html
(59 images, ~2 MB total)

My conclusion is that penumbras require high oversampling,
and at those levels, a very low number of ambient divisions
are required for a smooth rendering (-ad 4 to 16).

I welcome any comments that you may have on the method,
results, etc. I may have forgotten some very important
parameter that throws all of these results askew---if I
did, please tell me! =0)

Thank you.

Mark Stock