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SlimTracin

★ 62 Open GitHub ↗

Software ray tracer written from scratch in C that can run on CPU or GPU with emphasis on ease of use and trivial setup

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A minimalist and platform-agnostic interactive/real-time raytracer. 
Strong emphasis on simplicity, ease of use and almost no setup to get started with. 
Written in plain C and can be complied in either C or C++.

This project extends [SlimEngine](https://github.com/HardCoreCodin/SlimEngine).

Optional GPU support is provided via CUDA. 
The same C code is cross-compiled (no CUDA libraries used). 
Compiling using CUDA allows for dynamic toggling between rendering on the CPU or the GPU. 
<img src="src/examples/XPU.gif" alt="XPU">
<img src="src/examples/XPU.png" alt="XPU" width="540">

Architecture:
-
The platform layer only uses operating-system headers (no standard library used). 
The application layer itself (non-CUDA) has no dependencies, apart from the standard math header. 
It is just a library that the platform layer uses - it has no knowledge of the platform.

More details on this architecture [here](https://youtu.be/Ev_TeQmus68).

Features:
-
All features of SlimEngine are available here as well. 
Additional features include raytracing facilities: 
- Acceleration Structure (BVH) construction and traversal
- Intersection shaders for triangular meshes and implicit geometry
- Debug render modes (Depth, Normal, UV and BVH-preview)
- Physically based materials (Micro-facet Cook-Torrance BRDF)
- Raytracing specific shaders (Glass, Mirror, Area lights)
- Textures (Bi-Linear filtered) with adaptive mip-selection (using ray cones)
<img src="src/examples/RayCones.gif" alt="RayCones" width="540">

The following example apps demonstrate how to use SlimTracin's features: 
Note: Each example comes with CMake targets for CPU-only (no CUDA required) or GPU-enabled (requiring CUDA) 
* Implicit Geometry: Quad, Box, Sphere and Tetrahedra, all with UV-based transparency 
 <img src="src/examples/02_Geometry.gif" alt="02_Geometry"> 
 <img src="src/examples/02_Geometry_setup.png" alt="02_Geometry_setup" width="540">
 <img src="src/examples/02_Geometry_transparency.png" alt="02_Geometry_transparency" width="540">
* Point lights: Can be moved around and scaled (changing their light intensity) 
 <img src="src/examples/01_Lights.gif" alt="01_Lights"> 
 <img src="src/examples/01_Lights_setup.png" alt="01_Lights_setup" width="540">
* Area Lights: Emissive quads can be used as rectangular area lights 
 <img src="src/examples/06_AreaLights.gif" alt="06_AreaLights"> 
 
 <img src="src/examples/06_AreaLights_setup.png" alt="06_AreaLights_setup" width="380">
 <img src="src/examples/06_AreaLights_selection.png" alt="06_AreaLights_selection" width="360">
 
* Classic Materials: Lambert, Blinn, Phong 
 <img src="src/examples/03_BlinnPhong.gif" alt="03_BlinnPhong"> 
 
 <img src="src/examples/03_BlinnPhong_setup.png" alt="03_BlinnPhong_setup" width="360">
 <img src="src/examples/03_BlinnPhong_selection.png" alt="03_BlinnPhong_selection" width="380">
 
* PBR Materials: Cook-Torrance BRDF (Schlick/Smith GGX) 
 <img src="src/examples/05_PBR.gif" alt="05_PBR"> 
 <img src="src/examples/05_PBR.png" alt="05_PBR" width="540">
* Reflective/Refractive Materials: For glasses and mirrors (bounce count is controlled globally) 
 <img src="src/examples/04_GlassMirror.gif" alt="04_GlassMirror"> 
 
 <img src="src/examples/04_GlassMirror_setup.png" alt="04_GlassMirror_setup" width="360">
 <img src="src/examples/04_GlassMirror_selection.png" alt="04_GlassMirror_selection" width="380">
 
* Meshes: Transformable and can have smooth shading using vertex normal interpolation 
 <img src="src/examples/07_Meshes.gif" alt="07_Meshes"> 
 
 <img src="src/examples/07_Meshes_setup.png" alt="07_Meshes_setup" width="380">
 <img src="src/examples/07_Meshes_init.png" alt="07_Meshes_init" width="360">
 
 Mesh files are in a format native to the renderer which is optimized for ray/triangle intersection. 
* Textures: Albedo, Normal 
 <img src="src/examples/09_Textures.gif" alt="09_Textures"> 
 <img src="src/examples/09_Textures.png" alt="09_Textures" width="540"> 
 Textures can be loaded from files for use as albedo or normal maps. 
 Texture files are in a format native to the renderer and optimized for filtered sampling. 
* Render Modes: Beauty, Depth, Normals, UVs and BVHs 
 <img src="src/examples/08_Modes.gif" alt="08_Modes"> 
 
 <img src="src/examples/08_Modes_update.png" alt="08_Modes_update" width="380">
 <img src="src/examples/08_Modes_setup.png" alt="08_Modes_setup" width="360">
 
 BVHs can be shown as a wireframe overlay in any render mode. 
 <img src="src/examples/08_Modes_BVH.gif" alt="08_Modes_BVH"> 
 The BVH of the scene updates dynamically as primitives are transformed. 
 The BVH of meshes are only built once when a mesh file is first created. 
 Mesh primitives can be transformed dynamically because tracing is done in the local space of each primitive.

Converting `.bmp` files to the native `.texture` files can be done with a provided CLI tool: 
`./bmp2texture src.bmp trg.texture [-m] [-w]` 
-m : Generate mip-maps 
-w : Wrap-around

Converting `.obj` files to the native `.mesh` files can be done with a provided CLI tool: 
`./obj2mesh src.obj trg.mesh [-i]` 
-i : Invert triangle winding order (CW to CCW) 
Note: SlimTracin's `.mesh` files are not the same as SlimEngine's ones.

SlimTracin does not come with any GUI functionality at this point. 
Some example apps have an optional HUD (heads up display) that shows additional information. 
It can be toggled on or off using the`tab` key.

All examples are interactive using SlimTracing's facilities having 2 interaction modes:
1. FPS navigation (WASD + mouse look + zooming) 
2. DCC application (default)

Double clicking the `left mouse button` anywhere within the window toggles between these 2 modes.<btr>

Entering FPS mode captures the mouse movement for the window and hides the cursor. 
Navigation is then as in a typical first-person game (plus lateral movement and zooming):

Move the `mouse` to freely look around (even if the cursor would leave the window border) 
Scroll the `mouse wheel` to zoom in and out (changes the field of view of the perspective) 
Hold `W` to move forward 
Hold `S` to move backward 
Hold `A` to move left 
Hold `D` to move right 
Hold `R` to move up 
Hold `F` to move down

Exit this mode by double clicking the `left mouse button`.

The default interaction mode is similar to a typical DCC application (i.e: Maya): 
The mouse is not captured to the window and the cursor is visible. 
Holding the `right mouse button` and dragging the mouse orbits the camera around a target. 
Holding the `middle mouse button` and dragging the mouse pans the camera (left, right, up and down). 
Scrolling the `mouse wheel` dollys the camera forward and backward.

Clicking the `left mouse button` selects an object in the scene that is under the cursor. 
Holding the `left mouse button` while hovering an object and then dragging the mouse, 
moves the object parallel to the screen.

Holding `alt` highlights the currently selecte object by drawing a bounding box around it. 
While `alt` is still held, if the cursor hovers the selected object's bounding box, 
mouse interaction transforms the object along the plane of the bounding box that the cursor hovers on: 
Holding the `left mouse button` and dragging the mouse moves the object. 
Holding the `right mouse button` and dragging the mouse rotates the object. 
Holding the `middle mouse button` and dragging the mouse scales the object. 
(`mouse wheel` interaction is disabled while `alt` is held)

In some examples, further interaction is enabled while holding `ctrl` or `shift` 
using the `mouse wheel` as a virtual "slider": 
Holding `shift` and scrolling the `mouse wheel` cycles the assigned material for the selected object. 
Holding `ctrl` and scrolling the `mouse wheel` increases or decreases the trace-height* 
(how many times rays are allowed to bounce around between reflective or refractive objects)

SlimTracin

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