Anistropic and Isotropic materials in computer graphics

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But don’t use the Tree® example because I just don’t get it if everyone and every article uses the same example

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

An isotropic material reflects light the same way regardless of the incoming direction. Think of a non-reflective dull surface. The incoming light from a particular angle is reflected out to a random outgoing angle, since the surface roughness is effectively random. An example of an anisotropic material is brushed metal, such as you commonly see on the bottom of a stainless steel pot or pan. The surface roughness is not random, but well defined in a pattern of grooves. Light coming in at a particular angle will hit this groove structure in a certain way, and reflect off in roughly the same direction regardless of which groove it hits within a close vicinity. Imagine each groove is a tiny, long mirror aligned at a certain angle, whereas the roughness on an isotropic surface is like a ton of tiny square mirrors that are all randomly aligned.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Isotropic means same appearance from any angle. Label text is usually rendered isotropicly so you can read it. Anisotropic means different based on viewing angle. Minecraft block looks different if ur beside vs on top vs under is rendered anistropically.