English: A 3D rendered image using path tracing, rendered by Blender's Cycles renderer.

This version of the scene uses more complex materials and lighting, and adds some random bumpiness to the surfaces of the cow models, using procedural noise. The texture coordinates for the central cow have been perturbed slightly, also using procedural noise, and the number of colors has been reduced, to make the colors look more like paint or ceramic glaze. Indents representing nostrils have been added to the other two cows using displacement mapping.

An environment map is used, which captures lighting from a real world location, a technique known as image-based lighting. To produce the same lighting and reflections without an environment map would require recreating the entire surrounding environment using 3D models and dozens of simulated lights. Image-based lighting can be used with other rendering methods, such as rasterization, but it works especially well with path tracing.

The table uses texture mapping to incorporate surface details scanned from an actual wooden table. The texture data includes information about the roughness of different parts of the surface, allowing more realistic simulation of the reflection in the varnished table surface. Texture mapping can also be used with other rendering methods, such as rasterization.