Project Abstract

Computer graphics software continues to advance and shows no sign of slowing down. Ray tracing in particular has sprung into widespread use across several industries owing to its ability to create detailed and complex images that exhibit high levels of visual realism. This project aims to explore and recreate the features that allow ray tracing to model complex objects and scenes as well as create detailed lighting and material effects that can bring these scenes to life while maintaining acceptable performance. The project began with in depth research carried out into the features that allow ray tracing to achieve the previously mentioned effects while further looking into the algorithms and structures that allow these to be realised. This was followed by the development of a piece of software that uses the understanding gained from the research to implement the algorithms and structures discovered in order to render detailed, high quality and visually realistic images while maintaining performance that allows the software to be presented in real time. From the research I was able to determine the driving features behind achieving the desired effects as well as the algorithms that allow these to be implemented into ray tracing software. Using these algorithms to develop the software allowed the software to model accurate lighting effects, complex objects and detailed scenes that with the help of efficiency boosting data structures and algorithms is able to operate as a real time exhibit of the benefits of ray tracing over other graphics rendering techniques. In summary, using the understanding gained from the research carried out I was able to develop a piece of software capable of producing detailed and visually realistic images in an efficient manner highlighting the capabilities of ray tracing in computer graphics.

Keywords: Computer Graphics, Ray Tracing, Performance enhancing data structures

 Conference Details

Session: Poster Session B at Poster Stand 93

Location: Sir Stanley Clarke Auditorium at Wednesday 8th 09:00 – 12:30

Markers: Mark Jones, Ulrich Berger

Course: BSc Computer Science, 3rd Year

Future Plans: I’m undecided