Resumen

ANDRADE, H.; RAMOS, F.  y  KOTSARENKO, Y.. A Multi-Agent System Approach Applied to Light Raycasting. J. appl. res. technol [online]. 2012, vol.10, n.4, pp.629-643. ISSN 2448-6736.

Light and shadows caused by the interaction with objects are important features in computer graphics which are usually taken into account to achieve realistic images. In order to simulate them, some attempts have been carried out which are based on direct illumination classical approaches as shadow mapping and shadow volumes. However, classical approaches in their beginnings could not support semi-transparent objects, soft-shadows, light interactions inside objects and the possibility to update a scene based on previous information. In this paper a novel shadow casting approach is proposed to solve the previously mentioned problem using an interactive cooperative multi agent system to provide a better understanding and easy customization of the rendered scenes; for instance, the scenes are represented with object agents that propagate rectilinear photon information through them causing several changes on photon properties such as wavelength, intensity, among others. This system uses a two-dimensional space represented by pixels. Our multi-agent system (MAS) uses a blackboard architecture for storing and sharing data and the implicit invocation design pattern. The system was developed to calculate direct illumination in a two-dimensional space. In addition, the proposed system supports point light agents, opaque agents, semi-opaque agents and empty agents. A comparison is presented between the classic approaches and the proposed one presented in this work in scenes composed of opaque and semi-opaque objects. The proposed approach, as opposed to the classical ones, allows the shadows to be casted by the light that passes through semi-opaque objects. The light is casted by one or many light agents producing hard and soft shadows.

Palabras llave : shadows; ray-casting; multi agent system; blackboard.