Three.js: What Is The Exact Difference Between Lambert and Phong?

Question

I understand the difference between Lambert and Phong in general computer graphics. I also understand how we can change and create our own materials using three.js. But I cannot work out the difference between MeshLambertMaterial and MeshPhongMaterial in their default states.

I have tried switching them on a scene with one directional light source and 125 spheres, I cannot see any differences whatsoever. Three.js is being used in a chapter of my book and so I need to make sure all information is accurate and precise.

Thanks, Shane

Answer 1

Shane, it's not your fault that you're confused.

Lambert is an illumination model (with a physical basis) for the light reflected off a surface, expressed in terms of the incoming illumination's direction with respect to the surface normal at the point of incidence.

Phong is a more nuanced shading model (albeit a more hacky one) which says that light is composed of ambient + diffuse + specular components. It treats the ambient component as constant everywhere (hack!), the diffuse component using the Lambertian model above, and the specular component using a power-law falloff (which is a clever hack, roughly approximating actual BRDFs).

The word "Phong" is also an interpolation method (when used in the context of modern triangle-based rendering pipelines). When computing the illumination at a pixel in the interior of a triangle, you have two choices:

1. Gouraud shading: Compute the color at the three vertices and interpolate in the interior, using barycentric coordinates, or

2. Phong shading: Using the normal at the three vertices, interpolate the normal in the interior and compute the shading using this interpolated normal at each pixel.

This is why (as @RayToal pointed out), if your specular "highlight" falls in the interior of a triangle, none of the vertices will be bright, but Phong shading will interpolate the normal and there will be a bright spot in the interior of your rendered triangle.

Answer 2

I am assuming you want the exact difference between MeshLambertMaterial and MeshPhongMaterial as implemented in three.js.

You have to differentiate between the shading model and the illumination model. Three.js does not implement 'pure' Phong or Lambert models.

For MeshLambertMaterial, the illumination calculation is performed at each vertex, and the resulting color is interpolated across the face of the polygon. ( Gouraud shading; (generalized) Lambert illumination model )

For MeshPhongMaterial, vertex normals are interpolated across the surface of the polygon, and the illumination calculation is performed at each texel. ( Phong shading; (generalized) Phong illumination model )

You will see a clear difference when you have a pointLight that is close to a face -- especially if the light's attenuation distance is less than the distance to the face's vertices.

For both materials, in the case of FlatShading, the face normal replaces each vertex normal.

three.js.r.66

Answer 3

In computer graphics, it is very common to confuse Phong reflection model with Phong shading. While former is a model of local illumination of points like Lambertian, the later is an interpolation method like Gouraud shading. In case you find it hard to differentiate between them, here's a list of detailed articles on each of these topics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_shading_algorithms