Analysis of reported error in Monte Carlo rendered images

Evaluating image quality in Monte Carlo rendered images is an important aspect of the rendering process as we often need to determine the relative quality between images computed using different algorithms and with varying amounts of computation. The use of a gold-standard, reference image, or ground truth is a common method to provide a baseline with which to compare experimental results. We show that if not chosen carefully, the quality of reference images used for image quality assessment can skew results leading to significant misreporting of error. We present an analysis of error in Monte Carlo rendered images and discuss practices to avoid or be aware of when designing an experiment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00371-017-1384-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.