Linearly combining shading models for texturing in global illumination algorithms

We propose a simple method to generate a wide variety of different, texturing shading models by linearly combining simpler shading models. This makes it possible to specify complex shading operations in a very concise and simple form without explicitly programming shaders, and facilitates the use of this generalized shading model in global illumination algorithms. We also show the programming interfaces of this new method for distribution ray tracing, path tracing, and stochastic radiosity, and some results using these algorithms.