Geek thoughts

Since I’m currently working (as part of my research) on some special optimizations of n-Body problems I don’t have a lot of time for the raytracer. Here’s a screenshot of the framework I’ve written to test my ideas. You see a non-parallel all-pairs simulation of 10 Bodies:

(click for a bigger image)
Probably I’ll find more time [...]

Prozedural textures were easier to implement than I thought. But without antialiasing it looks quite ugly:

It’s a bit better when the resolution is much higher:

(Click on the image for a version in 1600×1000)

Doing some stress tests at the moment…

Not quite Phong-Shading, but at least my spheres are shaded now. Implemented the possibility for multiple light soures, different light intensities, switchable shadows and especially shading (based on the simple Lambertian-Model):

A video showing how changing the light intensity alters the scene is here:

PS: While I was developing, I played a bit with the colouring. One [...]

It seems there was an error in the formula for the ray-sphere intersection calculation — after calculating a few samples and the general formula manually, I found them. This was quite surprising, because — lazy as I am — I took the formulae from a book about graphic programming. Anyway, everything seems to work now:

Next [...]

Finally, shadow functionality implemented. The code is still a bit messy (but I love refactoring anyways). Two screenshots as a proof (using the new floor object, too):

And because I like youtube, I also generated a small animation, where the y-coordinate of the light source is raised step by step:

Next on the todo list is, after [...]

Approaching the next step: handling multiple objects and the correct ordering of the depth buffer. Exemplary output image with three spheres, ordered at different depths:

Additionally, we have a new object: the floor. This allows me to control and test dropshadows much better:

(This looks like the flag of a strange country…)

I proudly present the first raytraced image — currently without correct lightning or other advanced features. That means, that generating the rays, calculation of the image position in the plane and the ray-sphere collision detection work.

After a bit of thinking, my next side project will be a very simple but fully functional raytracer for spheres and — if time allows — other geometric shapes. Planned features:

Reflections
Phong Shading
Shadows
Multithreading

Nice to have, but not necessary:

Small GUI with iterative rendering
Antialiasing
Procedural textures

This will keep me working for a few days…

My little tetris game is finally finished and now I can enjoy playing it and thinking about my next little, maybe more serious, side project.The obligationary screenshot

You can play it using Java WebStart by clicking here. Controls are quite obvious:

Down, Left, Right moves the block
Up rotates
Space drops
P pauses the game
Escape closes the game

The game accelerates [...]