Compute-Ray-Tracer

Compute-Ray-Tracer is a compute shader-based ray tracing engine designed to render realistic 3D scenes with GPU acceleration. This project is a work-in-progress and serves as a foundation for experimenting with ray tracing concepts.

Core Features

• Compute Shader Acceleration: Leverages GPU compute cores for ray tracing.
• Single Model Support: Load and render one 3D model at a time.
• Baked Material: Uses a default material applied to the model.
• Ambient Lighting: Currently supports one global ambient light source.
• Semi high-Quality Output: Render images with realistic shading and shadows.

Current Status & TODO

The project is actively under development. Many features are still being implemented:

• Load a single 3D model (OBJ)
• Render with default baked material
• Ambient lighting
• Fixed camera setup
• SAH based BVH splitting
• Support multiple models
• Support multiple materials
• Add movable camera
• Add multiple light sources
• Post-processing effects (e.g., tone mapping, gamma correction)
• Performance optimizations
• UI for scene configuration

Screenshots

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/Compute-Ray-Tracer.git
cd Compute-Ray-Tracer

Build using CMake:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

Usage

./ComputeRayTracer

• Program will ask the Path to your 3D model file.

Controls

• W / A / S / D – Move camera forward / left / backward / right
• Space – Move camera up
• Left Ctrl – Move camera down
• Mouse – Look around (when cursor is locked)
• Tab – Toggle mouse lock/unlock (enables/disables camera look)
• R - Resets the FPS, frame count and elapsed time
• Esc – Quit application

Project Structure

Compute-Ray-Tracer/
│
├─ src/                # Source code  
├─include/             # Header files  
├─resource/            # Contains shader files
├─models/              # Sample 3D models
└─CMakeLists.txt       # Build configuration

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! You can help by:

• Adding new material shaders
• Implementing movable camera
• Supporting multiple light sources
• Optimizing performance
• Adding UI and scene management features

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

Acknowledgements

• TinyOBJLoader – For OBJ model loading
• Inspired by Sebastian Lague’s Ray Tracing Series tutorials
• Inspired by modern GPU ray tracing tutorials and research