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Real-Time Subsurface Scattering: A Comparative Analysis

Summary

This paper examines three real-time subsurface scattering techniques—Simple Translucency Approximations, Separable Subsurface Scattering, and Christensen–Burley’s Normalised Diffusion—analysing their underlying principles, visual characteristics, and trade-offs in real-time rendering.

Key Insights

• The screen space implementation of Separable SSS and Christensen-Burley’s Normalised Diffusion exhibit similar computational complexity.
• Simple translucency approximation remains significantly cheaper but fails to capture realistic multi-scattering behaviour.

Practical Note

In practice, both Separable SSS and Christensen–Burley are implemented as screen-space diffusion approximations. They do not model true subsurface light transport or backlighting, but instead blur rendered surface radiance.

Type: Seminar Paper (TUM)
Year: 2026

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