A number of interesting scenes are available for use with pbrt. Images of the results of rendering the various scenes are below (click the thumbnail for a high-resolution image). These scenes are available in a 3.7 GB tar.gz file.

To our knowledge, all of these scenes and data can be used fairly freely. Some data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license; see the notes accompanying each scene image below.

In addition to example scenes, the scenes distribution includes some additional useful data for use with the system.




barcelona-pavilion: Model of van der Rohe's classic Barcelona Pavilion, including both daytime and nighttime lighting setups. In the daytime setup, all illumination comes from a realistic sky model encoded in an HDR environment map. The night model has a very dark sky map and a number of area light sources; it is particularly challenging to render, as much of the illumination travels through one or more layers of glass before hitting a surface.

Thanks to Hamza Cheggour, who created this great model and made it available via a CC-BY license.

bathroom: Modern bathroom with soft indirect lighting and depth of field. Given the mirrors and bright wight walls, multi-bounce indirect illumination has a substantial effect on the overall appearance of the scene.

Thanks to "nacimus", who made this scene available under the CC-BY license. Downloaded from BlendSwap.

bmw-m6: BMW M6 car (model year 2006) illuminated by a realistic skylight model.

Thanks to Fred C. M'ule Jr. ("tyrant monkey" on BlendSwap) for this nice car model. CC-Zero (public domain) license. Downloaded from BlendSwap.

breakfast: Indoor scene with chairs around a table. One variant of the scene has light streaming in through blinds from the side such that most of the scene is only illuminated indirectly; finding these indirect illumination paths can be challenging. Another variant is only illuminated by the lights above the table; handling the resulting light transport through the glass light fixtures is a good challenge for many light transport algorithms.

Thanks to "Wig42", who made this scene available under a CC-BY license. Downloaded from BlendSwap.

buddha-fractal: Stanford Buddha model made out of Stanford Buddha models. 25,250 instances, each with 29,890 triangles, giving a total geometric complexity of over 750 million triangles.

Thanks for Guillermo M. Leal Llaguno for this fun variant of the Stanford Buddha model. (Buddha model courtesy Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory.

bunny-fur: Stanford Bunny with fur growing out of it, modeled using the new curve shape added to pbrt in the third edition of the book. Over 1.5 million curves are used.

Bunny model courtesy Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory. Environment map thanks to Bernhard Vogl.

caustic-glass: A delightfully complex caustic pattern that results from light being projected through a realistic model of a bumpy glass. Thanks to Simon Wendsche for the model.

chopper-titan: Shiny motorcycle sitting on a glossy surface, illuminated by a sunset. Thanks to julioras3d for this model; CC-BY license. Downloaded from BlendSwap.

cloud: One scene with a bright white cloud, showing the effect of multiple scattering in participating media, and another, with the same volume density but with much more absorption, leading to a much darker cloud. The two images show the difference between highly-scattering and highly-absorptive media.

Smoke data set courtesy Duc Nguyen and Ron Fedkiw. Skylight environment map courtesy Nolan Goodnight.

coffee-splash: A splash of coffee in a cup with a spoon, rendered using a complex simulated BRDF for the cup and saucer, and multiple scattering in participating media inside the splash.

CC-BY license. Downloaded from BlendSwap. Environment thanks to Bernhard Vogl.

contemporary-bathroom: Another contemporary bathroom scene. This scene is quite challenging to render without visible noise: specular light transport by the large mirror and the very small area light sources surrounded by glass in the light bulbs are difficult to render efficiently.

Scene thanks to Mareck. CC-Zero (public domain) license. "contemporary_china" texture used for wallpaper thanks to Adam Charlts; texture contrast was increased for the render. "American_walnut_pxr128" wood texture courtesy Pixar Animation Studios, CC-BY license. Abstract print seen in mirror based on a smoke photograph by Vanessa Pike-Russell, CC-BY license; the photo was inverted and contrast was adjusted for rendering. Hurricane image used for photo on wall courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC-BY license.

crown: Detailed model of the Austrian Imperial Crown, featuring an accurate reflection model for the gold metal surfaces, and many gems that refract light passing through them. This amazing model was created by Martin Lubich.

dambreak: two frames of a fluid simlulation from Yining Karl Li's nifty Ariel fluid simulator.

dragon: A scanned dragon model rendered with many different materials, showing off the visual differences between them. Dragon model courtesy Christian Schüller. Environment map thanks to Bernhard Vogl.

ecosys: Fairly complex outdoor scene with many plants and trees, illuminated by an environment map. This scene was used for the cover image for the first edition of Physically Based Rendering. Scene from Deussen et al., Realistic modeling and rendering of plant ecosystems.

ganesha: Very detailed scan of a small statue with over 4.3 million triangles, illuminated by a few area light sources. Model scanned by Wenzel Jakob.

hair: Scenes with both curly and straight hair show off the hair scattering model implemented in The Implementation of a Hair Scattering Model.

Many thanks to Cem Yuksel for the hair geometry, which is licensed under a "no commercial use" license.

head: Human head model with a realistic BSSRDF, showing the effect of subsurface scattering. Model thanks to Infinite Realities, Inc., CC-BY license. Environment map thanks to USC-ICT light probe image gallery.

killeroos: The classic "killeroo" model, in a variety of settings. Thanks to headus/Rezard for the model.
landscape: Very complex realistic outdoor landscape scene, featuring 23,241 unique plant models. Thanks to object instancing, the scene has a total geometric complexity of 3.1 billion triangles, even though only 24 million triangles need to be stored in memory. view-0.pbrt is the cover image of the third edition of the Physically Based Rendering book. Many thanks to Jan-Walter Schliep, Burak Kahraman, and Timm Dapper from Laubwerk for this amazing scene, which is available under a CC BY 4.0 license.
lte-orb: Spherical orb with an inset spherical object. The geometric structure of the shapes involved provides a useful tool for visualizing the appearance of various materials. Thanks to Yasutoshi Mori (@MirageYM) for this model; CC-BY license.

measure-one: A number of frames converted from Beeple's amazing Zero-Day animation. Converted from Cinema4D files downloaded from Beeple's website. (Note that the original materials and lighting is much better--improvements to our conversion gratefully received!)

License: "These files are available under a sort of "open source" concept. They are intended for educational use but really can be used for whatever the fuck you want. You don't need to credit me for whatever commercial or non-commercial use you make of them, but if you could shout me a holla with any project that do come from them, I'd love to see it :)"

pbrt-book: A realistic model of the second edition of the Physically Based Rendering book. Thanks to Karl Li (@yiningkarlli) for this fun model.
sanmiguel: A complex model inspired by a hotel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Thanks to Guillermo M. Leal Llaguno for this excellent scene.
smoke-plume: A few scenes showcasing of a smoke simulation around an obstacle using volume data generated using the simulator published with Kim et al.'s Wavelet Turbulence for Fluid Simulation paper.
sportscar: Sportscar model, in a variety of illumination settings, showing off the substantial differences in overall visual appearance that result. Excellent model and pbrt conversion courtesy of Yasutoshi Mori (@MirageYM); CC-BY license. Skylight environment maps courtesy Nolan Goodnight.
sssdragon: Dragon model rendered with subsurface scattering, where multiple scene description files show the visual effect of changing the density of the scattering medium. Dragon model courtesy Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory. Environment map thanks to Bernhard Vogl.
structuresynth: A few interesting procedural scenes scenes converted from Structure Synth into pbrt's format. Environment map thanks to the USC-ICT light probe image gallery.
transparent-machines: A variety of highly detailed glass shapes illuminated by skylight. For good results, upwards of 64 ray bounces are required. Models from frames of @beeple's amazing Transparent Machines video. License: "These files are available under a sort of "open source" concept. They are intended for educational use but really can be used for whatever the fuck you want. You don't need to credit me for whatever commercial or non-commercial use you make of them, but if you could shout me a holla with any project that do come from them, I'd love to see it :)"
tt: Audi TT sportscar. Thanks for Marko Dabrovic and Mihovil Odak for the car model. Environment map thanks to USC-ICT light probe image gallery.
villa: Modern indoor environment. The villa-daylight.pbrt version is particularly tricky to render, as all of the indoor lighting comes via specular paths from the outside through the windows. Many thanks to Florent Boyer for this scene. Skylight environment map courtesy Nolan Goodnight.
vw-van: Volkswagen Van, illuminated by a HDR environment map. Model courtesy of Greyscalegorilla, exported from Cinema4D using the Cinema4D pbrt exporter.
volume-caustic: A glass sphere in participating media, showing off a volumetric caustic--light being focused in the scattering medium after passing through the sphere.
white-room: Interior scene, with two illumination configurations. The daytime variant is primarily illuminated by light coming through the windows from the outdoors, while the nighttime version is illuminated by the two lights in the scene. Scene thanks to Jay Hardy, CC-BY license. Downloaded from BlendSwap.
yeahright: An unusual and intricate form on a glossy plate. "Interesting" shape generated by Keenan Crane. Environment map thanks to USC-ICT light probe image gallery.