Interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes

Interactive 3D-scene editing tool (VFX/rendering, granted).

Techniques are disclosed for interactive editing of virtual three-dimensional scenes. In the disclosed techniques, rendering is divided into (1) an interactive phase during which a user interactively edits a virtual scene while preview image frames are rendered using a modified ray tracing technique, and (2) a refinement phase during which full ray tracing is performed to show the user a final rendered image frame. The modified ray tracing technique may limit the number of bounces of light rays and/or the computations performed at each bounce, thereby reducing computational expense relative to a full ray tracing technique. Further, the modified ray tracing technique may be user-selectable and associated with a particular department within an animation studio.

BACKGROUND Technical Field (1) Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics and, more specifically, to techniques for interactively editing virtual 3D scenes. Description of the Related Art (2) Ray tracing techniques render high-quality, virtual three-dimensional (3D) scenes (also referred to herein as “virtual scenes”) by tracing the path of light rays throughout the scenes and simulating the effects produced when the light rays encounter virtual objects within the virtual scenes. Although ray tracing techniques can be used to create high-fidelity, photorealistic image frames, as a general matter, ray tracing techniques are computationally quite expensive. For example, a single frame of a production-scale animated film can take several hours to render using ray tracing techniques. The long rendering times required by ray tracing is at odds with the desire of artists to edit virtual scenes and receive more immediate feedback regarding the effects their edits have on rendered image frames. That is, there is a disconnect between the rendering times required by ray tracing techniques and the desire of artists to have some level of interactivity while creating image frames. (3) One conventional approach for achieving more interactive feedback when artists create image frames involves implementing rasterization-based rendering techniques to render virtual scenes. Rasterization techniques are faster than ray tracing techniques b