Educational software for photorealistic rendering in computer graphics (II)

• Main Author: Shi, Juan.
• Other Authors: Henry Johan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies::Computer graphics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48604
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Rendering is one sub-topic in computer graphics. It is the process of generating image based on the 3D information of scene. Several rendering algorithm have been researched and applied to many fields in our life, like architecture, video games, simulators, movie or TV visual effects, and design visualization. Among them, Ray tracing algorithm is the one, which can produce high quality image as it naturally includes light paths such as specular reflection and transmission and is difficult to compute with those projective algorithms. As a result, ray tracing algorithm is becoming a more distinct subject with the increasing demand for realism. The basic idea of this algorithm is computing the color of each pixel by figuring out where the lights come from. It includes shooting rays from pixels, determining nearest intersection, then applying Phong lighting model to compute the local color if an intersection point has been found. In this project, the task is to learn the ray tracing algorithm at the beginning, then develop an educational software (namely RTES) to initiate this technique. This software mainly contains two parts: one is applying the ray tracing algorithm to implement the tracers which can perform several functions for user to learn the algorithm in different manner; and the other part is to develop the Graphical User Interface for this system, make sure it can perform correct message passing between the components. The supplemental user survey on this system has been performed among 20 persons to examine how this educational software helps the users to learn ray tracing algorithm effectively. At the end, the survey shows that most users can understand the ray tracing concepts well by using the RTES system.