Abstract: This paper presents a new hierarchical simulation algorithm allowing the calculation of high-quality radiosity solutions for time-dependent scenes where all motion is known a priori. Such solutions could for instance be computed to simulate subtle lighting effects (indirect lighting) in animation systems, or to obtain high-quality synthetic image sequences to blend with live action video and film.

We base our approach on a Space-Time hierarchy, adding a life span to hierarchical surface elements, and present an integrated formulation of Hierarchical Radiosity with this extended hierarchy. We discuss the expected benefits of the technique, review the challenges posed by the approach, and propose first solutions for these issues, most notably for the space-time refinement strategy.