ray tracing

A Dictionary of Computing | 2004 | 509 words | Copyright

ray tracing A rendering technique in which a ray is cast from each pixel on the screen: these rays are followed into the scene, and the first surface to be struck is determined. Secondary rays may be generated to determine whether the point is in shadow, and also to follow reflections back toward their sources. Some limit is usually placed on the number of rays to be traced. In adaptive ray tracing the number of rays generated is dependent on the objects and the illumination encountered by previous rays.

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