u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
SIGGRAPH University - Introduction to "Physically Based Shading in Theory and Practice" (2015)
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#physicallybasedrendering#brdf#shading
Physics and Math of Shading | SIGGRAPH Courses
ACMSIGGRAPH
64K subscribers • 12 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 2 people: 2 in engineering communities.
- A classic. People kept recommending it from 2016 to 2026.
- Presented by Naty Hoffman, 2K Games
- Linked in the descriptionPaper on dl.acm.org
Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.
110K views10 years ago2 recommendations
Graphics and audioRenderingGPUs, shaders and CUDA
Naty Hoffman introduces the physical principles and mathematical models underlying physically based shading in computer graphics.
Physically based shading models are increasingly important in both film and game production. In this talk, Naty Hoffman (2K Games) provides an introduction to the topic, describing the underlying physics and showing how it relates to the mathematical models used for shading. This talk is an excerpt from the Physically Based Shading in Theory and Practice course at SIGGRAPH 2015. PRESENTER Naty Hoffman, 2K Games LEARN MORE COURSE WEBSITE: blog.selfshadow.com/publications/s2015-shading-course/ ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2776880.2787670 ACM SIGGRAPH: siggraph.org/Why it's here
2 people recommend thisWhat people say. Engineers point newcomers here for a classic, highly recommended introduction to physically based rendering and shading math.
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “What are you favourite graphics talks?”
Physics and Math of Shading by Naty Hoffman
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
Naty Hoffman at I3D 2026
Naty Hoffman is an OG of 3D graphics. https://renderwonk.com/publications/index.html If you haven't watched his classic "Physics and Math of Shading" SIGGRAPH talk, you really should queue it up.
I3D 2026 Keynote: Naty Hoffman's Keynote - "Lessons from Digging in Game Dev and Adjacent Trenches"
link to this video
I3D 2026 Fireside Chat with Naty Hoffman and Eric Haines
link to this video
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “(Real-time) PBR catchup: Developments in recent years”
I recommend this vid to everyone as in intro: link to this video
More recently, there's link to this video
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “Casual Shadertoy Path Tracing 3: Fresnel, Rough Refraction &; Absorption, Orbit Camera”
…n of the photons).
So, a shiny, clear, brown glass ball reflects about 5% of light with little absorption or scattering. It also re-emits the rest with very little scattering but a lot of absorbtion of blue photons and some red and green --leaving some red and green behind to make it look brown.
Here's great video explaining it better than I do link to this video…
u/dowhatthouwiltin r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “Understanding Graphics, Shading and Rendering Concepts”
…I recommend writing a simple raytracer to practice these concepts. Ray Tracing In One Weekend is a good guide to that: (http://in1weekend.blogspot.com/2016/01/ray-tracing-in-one-weekend.html). There is a lot of good material on youtube that goes into details on how light simulation is implemented. Here is a good one on physically based rendering: [video
(Also forgot the excellent PBRT book, which is mentioned in the other comments! https://www.pbrt.org/)
and
b) How the GPU pipeline works, the role shaders play in realtime rendering and a shader language like GLSL, so you can apply the above in a realtime context. Once again, there is a lot of material online on that and many books. I us…
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “Question about graphics programming as a job”
This video is a pretty good starter for what you need to know about light. You don't need to worry about quantum mechanics. Polarization comes into some high-end effects and is important for measuring real world surfaces.
You can get pretty far in graphics with basic linear algebra. But, when you start getting into BRDFs, volumetric light sources and other sampling topics, you start to get into calculus. Khan Academy and 3Blue1Brown are your friend there. Beyond that, MIT and many other high-end universities put their lectures and materials online for free. They are selling access to the student network. The education they give away to the world.
Also, everyone in real time graphic…
u/corysamain r/GraphicsProgramming • Recommends
On “Articles on CG theory?”
The vid of the presentation is also good link to this video