Backwards Raycaster (CSCI 5607)

This project is a globally illuminated raycaster. The raytracer is capable of anti-aliasing, texture rendering, transparency, reflection, mesh rendering, different lighting techniques and more. The entire project is written in C++, and is capable of running multiple threads on a CPU for improved performance. The compiled project takes two command line arguments: an input .txt file and an output .ppm file.

#Input File The renderer uses a very simple method for rendering that makes it easy to incorporate .obj files in your render. A single text file is required which describes all elements of your scene, as well as camera data.

##Required fields

• eye
  • x y z
• viewdir
  • x y z
• updir
  • x y z
• hfov
  • float (in degrees)
• imsize
  • width height
• bkgcolor
  • red green blue
• mtlcolor
  • red green blue spec_red spec_green spec_blue ka kd ks n opacity refraction_index ##Other fields
• sphere
  • x y z r
• cylinder
  • x y z orientation_x orientation_y orientation_z r
• light
  • x y z directional_flag red green blue
• depthcueing
  • red green blue max min dist_max dist_min
• texture
  • filename
• viewdist
  • float

Triangles

• v
  • x y z
• vn
  • x y z
• vt
  • x y
• f
  • v1 v2 v3
  • v1/vt1 v2/vt2 v3/vt3
  • v1//vn1 v2//vn2 v3//vn3
  • v1/vt1/vn1 v2/vt2/vn2 v3/vt3/vn3

Command ordering

the input file will be parsed according to chronological order. Meaning, that if you want to color a sphere with a certain material the material should come first:

mtlcolor 1 1 0 1 1 1 0.1 0.2 1 200 0.1 2.44
sphere 1 -0.39 -4.5 0.6

This would produce a yellow transparent sphere with the same refractive index as diamond.

Chronological ordering does not matter for the required fields, but its generally advised to put these first

Comments

comments can be provided with a '#' prefix

# This is a comment
mtlcolor 1 1 0 1 1 1 0.1 0.2 1 200 0.1 2.44
sphere 1 -0.39 -4.5 0.6

Sample file

viewdir 0 -0.3 -1
eye 0 2 2.5
imsize 144 144
updir 0 1 0
hfov 60
bkgcolor 0.1 0.1 0.15

mtlcolor 0.5 0.8 0.4 1 1 1 0.2 0.5 0.1 10 1 1
sphere 0.5 -0.69 -4.5 0.3
sphere -1.5 -0.69 -3.75 0.3
sphere 1 -0.69 -0.5 0.3


mtlcolor 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 500 1 200
sphere -0.3 -0.49 -3 0.5
sphere -1.25 -0.39 -0.8 0.6

mtlcolor 1 1 0 1 1 1 0.1 0.2 1 200 0.1 2.44
sphere 1 -0.39 -4.5 0.6
sphere -0.25 -0.39 -1 0.6

mtlcolor 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.01 0.1 1 200 0.05 2.44
sphere 0.75 -0.19 -2.25 0.8

v -2 -1 0
v -1 -1 0
v -1 -1 -6
v -2 -1 -6

v -0 -1 0
v -0 -1 -6

v 1 -1 0
v 1 -1 -6

v 2 -1 0
v 2 -1 -6
#11
v -2 3 0
#12
v -2 3 -6
#13
v 2 3 0
#14
v 2 3 -6
#15
v -0.5 3 -2.5
#16
v -0.5 3 0
#17
v 0.5 3 -2.5
#18
v 0.5 3 0
#19
v -0.5 3 -3.5
#20
v -0.5 3 -6
#21
v 0.5 3 -3.5
#22
v 0.5 3 -6

mtlcolor 0.8 0.8 0.8 1 1 1 0.3 0.7 0 20 1 1
f 1 2 3
f 1 3 4
mtlcolor 0.8 0 0.8 1 1 1 0.3 0.7 0 20 1 1
f 2 6 3
f 2 5 6
mtlcolor 0.8 0.8 0.8 1 1 1 0.3 0.7 0 20 1 1
f 5 8 6
f 5 7 8
mtlcolor 0.8 0 0.8 1 1 1 0.3 0.7 0 20 1 1
f 7 10 8
f 7 9 10

mtlcolor 1 0.6 0.6 1 1 1 0.1 0.9 0 20 1 1
f 1 4 11
f 11 4 12

f 9 13 14
f 9 14 10

# Ceiling
mtlcolor 0.3 1 0.4 1 1 1 0.1 0.7 0 20 1 1
f 20 11 12
f 16 11 20
f 16 15 17
f 18 16 17
f 21 19 22
f 19 20 22
f 18 22 14
f 13 18 14

# Back walls
texture io/test_art.ppm
vt 0 0
vt 1 0
vt 1 1
vt 0 1
mtlcolor 1 0 0 1 1 1 0.5 0.5 0.4 20 1 1
f 4/1 10/2 14/3
f 4/1 14/3 12/4

light -0.1 -0.1 5 1 0.3 0.3 0.3
light 0 3.3 -3 1 0.5 0.5 0.5

Sample Images