Ray Tracing in C++

Implementation of a ray tracer in C++ for CS 6620 at the University of Utah, Fall 2013.

Explore the code here.

Projects

Throughout the course, our ray tracer has evolved and tested with more advanced scenes. Each project has a dedicated project page to highlight the progression of the ray tracer:

• Project 1
• Project 2
• Project 3
• Project 4
• Project 5
• Project 6
• Project 7
• Project 8
• Project 9
• Project 10
• Project 11
• Project 12
• Final Project

Compiling and Running

The main file (ray-tracer.cpp) must be compiled using C++11, since it uses threading. There is a run script developed for Mac to assist with compiling.

When run, the program will create binary PPM image files in the images/ folder, which can then be converted to other image formats.

The provided script takes an integer parameter to compile, run, and convert images for the user.

./run 0    # cleanup
./run 1    # compile
./run 2    # compile & package
./run 3    # compile & run
./run 4    # compile & run & convert
./run 5    # compile & run & convert & open
./run 6    # compile & run & convert & open & cleanup

Disclaimer

This project is being provided as-is, and I know there are bugs in the ray-tracer. For example, Monte Carlo global illumination broke when I added in photon mapping. Occasionally, some scenes provide errors at particular pixels, which causes an entire thread to fail. I just hope the ideas buried in these files may be of use to others.

Credit

Cem Yuksel for both his cyCodeBase library and a bulk of the original code that inspired and guided the inner workings of the ray tracer.