Volumetric lighting

The term seems to have been introduced from cinematography and is now widely applied to 3D modeling and rendering, especially in the development of 3D video games.

As a result, light has the capability to give the effect of passing through an actual three-dimensional aerosol (e.g. fog, dust, smoke, or steam) that is inside its volume, just like in the real world.

Starting at the near clip plane of the camera, the whole scene is traced and sampling values are accumulated into the input buffer.

[citation needed] This basic technique works but requires more optimization to function in real time.

The algorithm functions by blurring luminous objects away from the center of the main light source.