How would you implement a perfect line-of-sight algorithm?

Question

Disclaimer: I'm not actually trying to make one I'm just curious as to how it could be done.

When I say "Most Accurate" I include the basics

• wall
• distance
• light levels

and the more complicated

• Dust in Atmosphere
• rain, sleet, snow
• clouds
• vegetation
• smoke
• fire

If I were to want to program this, what resources should I look into and what things should I watch out for? Also, are there any relevant books on the theory behind line of sight including all these variables?

Answer 1

I personally don't know too much about this topic but a quick couple of Google searches turns up some formal papers that contain some very relevant information:

http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/publications/artigo_1999_efficient_lineofsight_algorithms.pdf - Provides a detailed description of two different methods of efficiently performing an LOS calculation, along with issues involved

http://www.agc.army.mil/operations/programs/LOS/LOS%20Compendium.doc - This one aims to maintain "a current list of unique LOS algorithms"; it has a section listing quite a few and describing them in detail with a focus on military applications.

Hope this helps!