1. An improved variance shadow mapping system for computing an illumination value Q as a function of a light distance z includes a) a memory recording for each of a plurality of filter regions, a plurality of depth values and a light distance value z and providing a depth value signal and a distance value signal encoding respectively the depth values of each filter region and the associated distance value; b) a first hardware element receiving the depth value signal, that computes for depth values in the filter region, the mean and variance for said depth values and provides said mean and variance values in first mean and variance signals; wherein the improvement comprises structure providing the illumination value Q, said structure comprising c) a third hardware element receiving the depth value signal and selecting therefrom the maximum and minimum depth values for the filter region, and providing the maximum and minimum depth values in maximum and minimum depth value signals respectively; d) a fourth hardware element receiving the first mean and variance signals and the maximum and minimum depth value signals, and computing therefrom normalized mean and normalized variance values, and providing the normalized mean and normalized variance values encoded in normalized mean and variance signals; e) a fifth hardware element receiving the normalized mean and variance signals and computing therefrom α and β values as functions of the normalized mean and variance values, and providing the α and β values encoded in α and β signals; f) a sixth hardware element receiving the maximum and minimum depth value signals and the distance value signal and computing therefrom a normalized distance value, and encoding the normalized distance value in a normalized distance value signal; g) a seventh hardware element receiving the minimum depth value signal and the distance value signal encoding the light distance value z, and providing a Q signal encoding the value of 1 when z≦the minimum depth value; h) an eighth hardware element receiving the maximum depth value signal and the distance value signal encoding the light distance value z, and providing a Q signal encoding the value of 0 when z≧the maximum depth value; and i) a ninth hardware element receiving the normalized distance value signal and the α and β signals, and computing therefrom the Q value as a function of normalized distance value and the α and β values, and encoding this Q value in a Q value signal.