The academy award winning book Physically Based Rendering from Theory to Implementation 3rd Edition is now available free online in its entirety at http://www.pbr-book.org/. This book is hugely important to the game and film industry as this is where the expression Physically Based Rendering (PBR) was coined, and it is the underlying rendering technology behind every major modern 3D game engine.
Description of PBR 3rd Edition from the book homepage:
Physically Based Rendering, Third Edition describes both the mathematical theory behind a modern photorealistic rendering system as well as its practical implementation. A method known as “literate programming” combines human-readable documentation and source code into a single reference that is specifically designed to aid comprehension. Through the ideas and software in this book, you will learn to design and employ a full-featured rendering system for creating stunning imagery.
This new edition greatly refines its best-selling predecessor by adding sections on bidirectional light transport; stochastic progressive photon mapping; a significantly-improved subsurface scattering implementation; numerical robustness issues in ray-object intersection; microfacet reflection models; realistic camera models; and much more. These updates reflect the current state-of-the-art technology, and along with the lucid pairing of text and code, ensure the book’s leading position as a reference text for those working in rendering.
The author team of Matt Pharr, Greg Humphreys, and Pat Hanrahan garnered a 2014 Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences based on the knowledge shared in the first and second editions of the book this book. The Academy called the book a “widely adopted practical roadmap for most physically based shading and lighting systems used in film production.”
Additionally, you can still buy print (and digital) copies on Amazon via this affiliate link, should you desire the feeling of paper in your hands. This is not an easy text and isn’t required reading for everyone, but if you are working on rendering technology or want a peek behind the curtain this is definitely a book you should check out today.
Click here to read the book now.