Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcso!hpfcdj!fwb
From: fwb@hpfcdj.HP.COM (Frank Bennett)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Realtime Raytracing demo on a PC... Anybody wanna see?
Message-ID: <17400021@hpfcdj.HP.COM>
Date: 10 Jan 91 16:23:18 GMT
References: <1991Jan8.072628.13689@tukki.jyu.fi>
Organization: Hewlett Packard -- Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 44

small Flame on!!

	It seems like this is one of the more popular topics for students
interested in making some sort of contribution to the field of Computer
Graphics. I think better areas for contribution might be in a modeler or
in 3D animation. I don't know of any PD software for either. (In "C" please)

	You may in well achieve "near real time" performance if you are
only procedurally tracing spheres, but in order to get in the ball game
review some of the following work:

o rayshade, weedeater.math.yale.edu, Craig Kolb
	Excellent "C" code  (if only everybody coded this good)
	Primitives include:
		sphere, triangle, triangle with normals, poly, plane
		cylinder, cone, heightfield, box, superq
	Features:
		depth of field
		jitter or adaptive supersampling for anti-aliasing
		3 light source types
		surface description
		texture & bump maps
		fog mist
	Algorithms:
		triangle intersection 
		Bounding Volume Hierarchy

o vort, munnari.oz.au 
	Has some interesting procedurally defines surface primitive.

o Dante, Eric Haines, 3DEYE & Hewlett Packard

	Build a model & view it in "real time" using polygons or NURBS,
then go get a raytraced or Radiosity rendition of the scene. The only
tracer I know which will trace Bspline patches.

o Wavefront

	Build a model, animate it ( that is get the key frames right ),
use splines to get the inbetweening right, then ask for raytraced frames
of interest.

Frank Bennett, Graphics Technology Division, Hewlett Packard
my views only, of course.