What is Ray Tracing?
Ray tracing is a technique
for creating photo-realistic images. It simulates the
interaction of light rays and objects using principles
of geometric optics. The rules used for this light-object
interaction are somewhat simplified from those of nature
but are still accurate enough to produce photo-realistic
results.
In a ray tracing scene,
we first position the objects and define the shape and
surface properties (e.g. colour, reflectivity and texture)
for each object. Light sources are then set up at assigned
locations. We then specify where the observer's eye
will be located. The ray tracing program will mathematically
model the objects, the light rays and the observer and
compute the colour for each pixel on the screen.
|
