Blender Git Commit Log

Cycles: improved importance sampling for Beckmann and GGX glossy

Samples render slower than before, but hopefully this is made up for with
reduced noise in most cases. The main slowdown comes from samples that would
previously be wasted and turn out black, which are now continued.

GGX sampling is about the same speed as before, while for Beckmann it is slower
still. Perhaps optimizations are still possible there, but didn't find anything
easy.

Code from this paper, which comes with sample code:

Importance Sampling Microfacet-Based BSDFs using the Distribution of Visible Normals.
E. Heitz and E. d'Eon, EGSR 2014

Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D572