# RNA: Relightable Neural Assets

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.09398 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.09398/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 24 of its 67 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Dec 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Plenoxels: Radiance Fields without Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.05131/) (2021)
- [Efficient Geometry-aware 3D Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07945/) (2021)
- [NeRV: Neural Reflectance and Visibility Fields for Relighting and View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.03927/) (2020)
- [NeRD: Neural Reflectance Decomposition from Image Collections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.03918/) (2020)
- [Extracting Triangular 3D Models, Materials, and Lighting From Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12503/) (2021)
- [Neural-PIL: Neural Pre-Integrated Lighting for Reflectance Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14373/) (2021)
- [Neural Reflectance Fields for Appearance Acquisition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.03824/) (2020)
- [Modeling Indirect Illumination for Inverse Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06837/) (2022)
- [Shape, Light, and Material Decomposition from Images using Monte Carlo Rendering and Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.03380/) (2022)
- [IRON: Inverse Rendering by Optimizing Neural SDFs and Materials from Photometric Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02232/) (2022)
- [NeILF: Neural Incident Light Field for Physically-based Material Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07182/) (2022)
- [Unified Shape and SVBRDF Recovery using Differentiable Monte Carlo Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15208/) (2021)
- [Neural-PBIR Reconstruction of Shape, Material, and Illumination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13445/) (2023)
- [tempoGAN: A Temporally Coherent, Volumetric GAN for Super-resolution Fluid Flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.09710/) (2018)
- [Relighting Neural Radiance Fields with Shadow and Highlight Hints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.13404/) (2023)
- [NeFII: Inverse Rendering for Reflectance Decomposition with Near-Field Indirect Illumination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16617/) (2023)
- [NeROIC: Neural Rendering of Objects from Online Image Collections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.02533/) (2022)
- [NeMF: Inverse Volume Rendering with Neural Microflake Field](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00782/) (2023)
- [Differentiable Rendering of Neural SDFs through Reparameterization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.05344/) (2022)
- [Real-Time Neural Appearance Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.02678/) (2023)
- [Physics-Based Inverse Rendering using Combined Implicit and Explicit Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01242/) (2022)
- [NeuS-PIR: Learning Relightable Neural Surface using Pre-Integrated Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.07632/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [RNG: Relightable Neural Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.19702/) (2024)
- [Extracting Neural Materials from Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.26715/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

High-fidelity 3D assets with materials composed of fibers (including hair), complex layered material shaders, or fine scattering geometry are ubiquitous in high-end realistic rendering applications. Rendering such models is computationally expensive due to heavy shaders and long scattering paths. Moreover, implementing the shading and scattering models is non-trivial and has to be done not only in the 3D content authoring software (which is necessarily complex), but also in all downstream rendering solutions. For example, web and mobile viewers for complex 3D assets are desirable, but frequently cannot support the full shading complexity allowed by the authoring application. Our goal is to design a neural representation for 3D assets with complex shading that supports full relightability and full integration into existing renderers. We provide an end-to-end shading solution at the first intersection of a ray with the underlying geometry. All shading and scattering is precomputed and included in the neural asset; no multiple scattering paths need to be traced, and no complex shading models need to be implemented to render our assets, beyond a single neural architecture. We combine an MLP decoder with a feature grid. Shading consists of querying a feature vector, followed by an MLP evaluation producing the final reflectance value. Our method provides high-fidelity shading, close to the ground-truth Monte Carlo estimate even at close-up views. We believe our neural assets could be used in practical renderers, providing significant speed-ups and simplifying renderer implementations.