Ray tracing is a general technique from
geometrical optics of modeling the path taken by light by following
rays of light as they interact with optical surfaces. It is used in the design of optical systems, such as
camera lenses,
microscopes,
telescopes and
binoculars. The term is also applied to mean a specific
rendering algorithmic approach in
3D computer graphics, where mathematically-modelled visualisations of programmed scenes are produced using a technique which follows rays from the eyepoint outward, rather than originating at the light sources. It produces results similar to
ray casting and
scanline rendering, but facilitates more advanced optical effects, such as accurate simulations of
reflection and
refraction, and is still efficient enough to frequently be of practical use when such high quality output is sought.
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<
graphics> A technique used in
computer graphics to create realistic
images by calculating the paths taken by rays of light entering the observer's eye at different angles. The paths are traced backward from the viewpoint, through a point (a
pixel) in the image plane until they hit some object in the scene or go off to infinity. Objects are modelled as collections of abutting surfaces which may be rectangles, triangles, or more complicated shapes such as 3D
splines. The optical properties of different surfaces (colour, reflectance, transmitance, refraction, texture) also affect how it will contribute to the colour and brightness of the ray. The position, colour, and brightness of light sources, including ambient lighting, is also taken into account.
Ray tracing is an ideal application for
parallel processing since there are many pixels, each of whose values is independent and can thus be calculated in parallel.
Compare:
radiosity.
Usenet newsgroup:
news:comp.graphics.raytracing.
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Graphics/3D/Ray_Tracing/.
(2003-09-11)
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