[comp.graphics] Ray Tracing Beginner

hamid@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (HAMID SAMADANI) (12/04/90)

	I'd like to write a Ray Tracing program to run on a PC.  Can
	anyone recommend a good article or text book that's not too
	heady for me to start with?

		Hamid 

xxw8409@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Fractalman) (12/05/90)

>        I'd like to write a Ray Tracing program to run on a PC.  Can
>        anyone recommend a good article or text book that's not too
>        heady for me to start with? 

There's a very nice book called 'Fractal Programming and Ray Tracing with
C++'by Roger T. Stevens and published by M&T Books. The book comes with a disk
of sample programs for Zortech C++ but can be modified to be used with Turbo
C++. The text is very easy to understand and you only need some rudimentary
knowledge of C and computer graphics.

							- Fractalman

erich@eye.com ( Eric Haines) (12/07/90)

In article <1990Dec4.032700.25078@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> hamid@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov writes:
>
>	I'd like to write a Ray Tracing program to run on a PC.  Can
>	anyone recommend a good article or text book that's not too
>	heady for me to start with?

A good but pricery start is "An Introduction to Ray Tracing", edited by Andrew
Glassner (I admit, I'm a co-author - buy a copy and earn me a quarter).  A
much cheaper (and shorter) option is an article by Andrew G. on how to make a
ray tracer in the latest issue of BYTE Magazine (sorry, I don't know which
month - it's the newest on our newsstand).

Eric Haines