Residual Ratio Tracking for Estimating Attenuation in Heterogeneous Volumes

There is provided a system including a memory storing a software application and a processor configured to execute the software application to transmit a light through a scene, the scene including a medium described by an extinction function, define a fictitious medium described by a fictitious extinction function, determine a path through the medium, the path including a plurality of points, calculate one of a plurality of weights for each of the plurality of points, the one of the plurality of weights corresponding to one minus the ratio of the extinction function to the fictitious extinction function, and estimate a transmittance of the lights through the medium as a product of the plurality of weights.