When it comes to rendering 3-dimensional computer-generated images there are 2 possible approaches: “Rasterization”, which is used by almost all graphic engines because of its efficiency and “Ray Tracing”. The “Ray Tracing” method, developed for the first time in 1968 (but improved upon since) is even today more expensive in computation than the “Rasterization” method. As a result, it is not yet fully adapted to real time use-cases but it produce a much higher degree of visual realism.
Before you can even begin to produce such high-quality graphics, you must master the basics: the miniRT is your first ray tracer coded in C, normed and humble but functional. The main goal of miniRT is to prove to yourself that you can implement any mathematics or physics formulas without being a mathematician, we will only implement the most basics ray tracing features here so just keep calm, take a deep breath and don’t panic! After this project you’ll be able to show off nice-looking pictures to justify the number of hours you’re spending at school...
Build your own scene with .rt file:
Run it in miniRT and see this:
Press N and explore vertices normals:
Press I, choose object and configurize it:
Set up your cameras for best views:
And press R for rendering:
At the end of a day mount capibara and fly away like a real hero:
