source: GTP/trunk/App/Demos/Illum/Standalone/HierRayEngine [DirectX]/README.txt @ 1481

Revision 1481, 1.7 KB checked in by szirmay, 18 years ago (diff)
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1GameTools standalone demo:
2
3Ray tracing on the GPU [actual ray tracing, not approximate]
4#############################
5
6
7Provided effect:
8#################
9
10Multiple visible refractive objects with multiple refractions, including
11total internal reflection and refraction of exiting rays. The solution is
12based on the hierarchical (tiled) version of the Ray Engine approach.
13
14Algorithm benefits:
15###################
16Actual ray tracing allows accurate light simulation. The hierarchical ray engine
17makes use of coherence to achive interactive performance. Therefore, it is
18most suitable for rendering eye or photon paths: primarily visible refractive
19objects or caustics (if augmented with photon splatting, not in this demo, but
20featured in our 'approximate ray tracing' implementations. )
21
22The algorithm is linear in the number of ray-tracing primitives. It is therefore
23most useful if:
24- a large number of coherent ray paths needs to be traced
25- a low number of primitives are processed (low-poly models)
26- non-triangle geometry (spheres, quadratics, etc.) is used
27
28Compared to the depth approximate ray tracing solutions (a.k.a localized
29environment maps, depth environment impostors) the accuracy is often
30not necessary for a plausible result. Therefore, in a game, the ray
31engine approach is only competitive in a few special cases matching the
32conditions listed above.
33
34Build:
35######
36This is a standalone DirectX 9.0 application, compiles under Visual C++ 2003
37with DirectX SDK April 2006 (identical to June 2006).
38
39Usage notes:
40############
41- Do not resize the application window. A fixed array of rays/tiles is used.
42- use the 'Iterations' slider to toggle the length of ray paths traced. Ignore
43the displayed number.
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