Lambertian reflectance

Imagine you have a very bouncy ball, and you want to throw it against a wall. When the ball hits the wall, it bounces back. The way the ball bounces back also depends on the color of the ball and the color of the wall.

Now, let's say the ball is white and the wall is also white. After the ball bounces off the wall, it looks very similar to how it looked before it hit the wall, right? This is because both the ball and the wall are "lambertian" surfaces, meaning they reflect light in a diffuse and even way.

Lambertian reflectance is the scientific term for how much light is reflected off of an object, regardless of the angle or direction of the light hitting it. So, if you shine a light at a lambertian surface from any direction, the amount of light that bounces off will be the same.

This is really useful in fields like computer graphics, where 3D objects need to be rendered realistically. By using a lambertian model, we can create accurate virtual objects that behave like their real-life counterparts.

So, in summary, lambertian reflectance is a fancy way of talking about how objects reflect light evenly and diffusely, no matter the direction of the light hitting them. It's important for understanding how we see things and creating 3D models that look real.