Explain the difference between global illumination and local illumination in 3D graphics. How do they influence the rendering quality?
Global illumination (GI) and local illumination are two approaches to simulating light in 3D graphics, impacting rendering quality differently.
Local illumination considers direct lighting only, calculating the interaction between light sources and objects without accounting for indirect light bounces. It’s computationally less expensive but can result in unrealistic images due to lack of global light interactions.
In contrast, GI simulates both direct and indirect lighting, capturing light bounces between surfaces, leading to more realistic images with accurate shadows, color bleeding, and ambient occlusion. However, it requires higher computational resources, increasing render times.
Rendering quality is influenced by these methods as follows: Local illumination produces faster renders but may appear artificial, while GI offers superior realism at the cost of increased computation time and complexity.
