Scattering Distribution Functions
The reflective properties (amount, direction and colour) of surfaces are modelled using BRDFs. The equivalent for transmitted light (light that goes through the object) are BSDFs. A path tracer can take full advantage of complex, carefully modelled or measured distribution functions, which controls the appearance ("material", "texture" or "shading" in computer graphics terms) of an object.
Read more about this topic: Path Tracing
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