Games are more vibrant than ever. This article explains how ray tracing makes all the difference.
What is Ray Tracing?
Ray tracing is a computer graphics rendering technique that creates an image by tracing the path of rays through a scene. The rays can interact with objects in the scene, bouncing off of them and taking on properties such as color.
Ray tracing mimics real lighting. The light we see is the result of photons emitted from energy sources, such as the sun. Photons can bounce and scatter when they collide with objects. A mirror is all you need to see this in action. Light hitting a mirror creates a reflection.
Ray tracing simulates this. The number of traced rays is meager compared to the real world, where millions of photons bounce through our field of view. Modern games trace anywhere from one to four rays per pixel. Still, that’s enough to simulate the real world.
