Physically-Based Shading at Disney

In these course notes we describe the development of a new BRDF model used on Wreck-It Ralph and subsequent productions at Walt Disney Animation Studios. We begin with observations from studying measured materials along with insights we've gleaned about which models fit the measured data and where they fall short. We then present our new model, describe our experience of adopting this new model in production, and discuss how we were able to add the right level of artistic control while preserving simplicity and robustness.