Two decades have passed since the introduction of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) into light transport simulation by Veach and Guibas, and numerous follow-up works have been published since then. However, up until now no survey has attempted to cover majority of these methods. The aim of this paper is therefore to offer a first comprehensive survey of MCMC algorithms for light transport simulation. The methods presented in this paper are categorized by their objectives and properties, while we point out their strengths and weaknesses. We discuss how the methods handle the main issues of MCMC and how they could be combined or improved in the near future. To make the paper suitable for readers unacquainted with MCMC methods, we include an introduction to general MCMC and its demonstration on a simple example.

中文翻译：

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马尔可夫链蒙特卡罗方法在光传输模拟中的研究。

自将马尔可夫链蒙特卡洛（MCMC）引入Veach和Guibas进行的轻型运输模拟以来已经过去了二十年，此后已发表了许多后续工作。但是，到目前为止，还没有调查尝试涵盖这些方法中的大多数。因此，本文的目的是对光传输模拟的MCMC算法进行首次全面综述。本文介绍的方法按其目的和性质分类，同时指出它们的优缺点。我们讨论了这些方法如何处理MCMC的主要问题以及如何在不久的将来将其组合或改进。为了使本文适合不熟悉MCMC方法的读者，我们在简单的示例中包括对常规MCMC的介绍及其演示。