RayGen Renderer

A simple, cross-platform ray tracing engine for 3D graphics rendering.

Snapshots

Cube Room

Cube Room (Reflection Version)

sphere array Spheres & Materials

suzanne Suzanne (Glass)

suzanne Suzanne (Jade)

real life application A real-life application: Office Rendering

real life application top view A real-life application: Office Rendering (Top View)

Build

The following build scripts and projects are available in this repository:

Platform	Folder	Build tool
macOS (Intel)	build/mac-intel	GNU Make
macOS (Apple Silicon)	build/mac-m	GNU Make
macOS	projects/raygen.xcodeproj	Xcode
Linux	build/linux	GNU Make
Windows	projects/raygen-win32/raygen.sln	Visual Studio

Example of using GNU Make on Linux and macOS platforms:

cd build/<platform>
make

Usage

$ ./raygen <command> <sceneFile.json> [output_image] [-options]

e.g.:

$ ./raygen render ../../resources/scenes/cubeRoom/cubeRoom.json -s 100 -enaa true

Options

Option	Description
-r, --resolution	Specifies the resolution of the output image.
-s, --samples	Number of samples (rays from the camera).
-c, --cores, --threads	Number of threads used for parallel rendering.
-ds, --dofs, --dof-samples	Number of samples for depth of field calculation.
-enaa, --enable-antialias	Enables ray-sample-based anti-aliasing (default: on).
-encs, --enable-color-sampling	Enables color sampling from textures (default: on).
-enpp, --enable-postprocess	Enables post-processing effects like bloom and gamma correction.
-d, --shader	Specifies the shading system (see below for options).
--focus-obj	Automatically sets the camera to focus on a specified object (by name).
--dump	Dumps the scene definition.

Shading system: (specified by -d or --shader argument)

Value	Name	Description
0	Simple Shading	Basic shading using Lambertian reflectance (no lighting or texture sampling).
1	Ambient Occlusion	Renders ambient occlusion only.
2	Lambert Shading	Lambert shading with directional lighting and texture sampling.
3	Lambert Shading + AO	Lambert shading with directional lighting, texture sampling, and ambient occlusion.
4	(Reserved)
5	BSDF	BSDF Shading with global illumination (default shading system).

Shading system comparison:

Value	Name	Directional Lighting	Indirect Lighting	Ambient Occlusion	Global Illumination	Transparency	Reflection/Refraction
0	Simple Shading	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Ambient Occlusion	-	-	Yes	-	-	-
2	Lambert Shading	Yes	-	-	-	Yes	-
3	Lambert Shading + AO	Yes	-	Yes	-	Yes	-
4	(Reserved)
5	BSDF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Scene Format

A RayGen scene is described using a JSON file structured as follows:

scene.json:

{
  obj1: {
    location: [x, y, z],
    angle: [x, y, z],
    scale: [x, y, z],
    mesh: "path/to/mesh.mesh",
    mat: {
      color: [r, g, b] or "#d0d0d0",
      tex: "path/to/texture.png",
      glossy: 0.0 to 1.0,
      roughness: 0.0 to 1.0,
      transparency: 0.0 to 1.0,
      refraction: 0.0 to 1.0,
      ...,
    }
  },
  obj2: {
    ...
  },
  ...
}

Description:

location: Specifies the position of the object in 3D space.
angle: Rotation of the object along the x, y, and z axes.
scale: Scaling factors for the object along the x, y, and z axes.
mesh: Path to the object's mesh file.
mat: Material properties of the object:
- color: RGB color values or a hexadecimal color code (e.g., "#d0d0d0").
- tex: Path to the texture file.
- glossy: Glossiness level, ranging from 0 (no gloss) to 1 (fully glossy).
- roughness: Surface roughness, ranging from 0 (smooth) to 1 (rough).
- transparency: Transparency level, ranging from 0 (opaque) to 1 (fully transparent).
- refraction: Refraction index, ranging from 0 to 1.

Mesh File Formats

RayGen supports the following mesh file formats:

RayGen Original Binary Mesh Format: This format includes the mesh's data such as vertices, normals, texture coordinates, and more.
.obj File Format: A widely-used 3D object file format. RayGen can read vertices, normals, faces, texture coordinates, and material information from .obj files.
FBX File Format: Currently not supported but under development.

Test Scenes

Several sample scenes for rendering can be found inside the resources/scenes folder:

Cube Room - A well-known scene featuring two cubes, commonly used to benchmark ray-tracing engines.
Sphere Array - A scene with five spheres demonstrating various material types.
suzanne - The Suzanne model, used to showcase transparency and refraction materials.