The age of ubiquitous computer graphics will soon be upon us. In the last ten years 3D computer graphics technology has migrated from a few privileged research laboratories into mainstream media such as the movies. Moreover, in the next few years we can expect every personal computer to be equipped with 3D graphics hardware which is expected to enable a wide range of new applications. Underlying this revolution is a set of algorithms and systems for producing images by computer.
Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin, I have had the pleasure of working at several centers of graphics research. My research has concentrated on "rendering," which I define as the computer modeling of appearance: lights and lighting effects, materials and their reflective properties, and cameras and aspects of image formation and perception. In this talk I review the state of the field, draw analogies with the work of early Renaissance painters, and sketch out some of my current projects.