Ray Tracier Version 1.2

Ray Tracing, Version 1.2

Goal: Ray trace a scene where

the only object in the scene is the generic sphere

the only attribute of the generic sphere is an assigned (emissive) color

the camera is set up

at position (eye_x, eye_y, eye_z),

looking at point (look_at_x, look_at_y, look_at_z), with

the original up-direction for the camera being <0,1,0>.

speed-up has been accomplished by more wisely computing the ray's direction, for each ray.

Directory:

Set up a directory for Version 1.2 of your ray tracer, which will contain

driver program (rt_v1.2.cpp)
current version of ray tracing tools (header and implementation files
makefile

Ray Tools:

Add the following method to class Vector and thoroughly test.

Vector cross(Vector other); which returns the cross product of this vector with other vector. So if A,B, and C are each of type Vector, then the call

C = A.cross(B);

will result in C = A X B.

Specifics:

Since we no longer are using the simple case for positioning the camera, vectors u, v, and n, are no longer <1,0,0>, <0,1,0>, and <0,0,1>, respectively. We must calculate the values for u, v, and n and use them in determining the direction of each ray.

Driver Program:

Make sure this still works for the simple case by setting

(eye_x, eye_y, eye_z) = (0,0,5), and
(look_at_x, look_at_y, look_at_z) = (0,0,0).

This should give you the same result as your two previous versions. If it does, then try different values for the camers's position and look-at point.

Working Directory:

Make a subdirectory v1.2 in your Working Directory. When you have version 1.2 working correctly, copy all files pertaining to it, including the makefile, to that directory and don't touch it!