Ray Tracer

This is a simple ray tracer written in C++ using OpenGL's GLUT for creating display. It supports rendering scenes with spheres, pyramids, and checkerboards, and can handle point lights and spotlights with shadows, reflections, and Phong illumination.

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📦 Prerequisites

Before building and running this project, ensure you have the following installed:

• g++ (with C++17 support)

• Make

• OpenGL development libraries:

  • libgl1-mesa-dev
  • freeglut3-dev
  • libglu1-mesa-dev

You can install them on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems using:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install g++ make libgl1-mesa-dev freeglut3-dev libglu1-mesa-dev

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🔧 Build Instructions

To build the ray tracer:

make

This will compile the source files and create an executable called raytracer.

To clean up compiled files:

make clean

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▶️ Run Instructions

To run the ray tracer with a scene description in input.txt and output the image to out.bmp:

make run

This internally runs:

./raytracer --input input.txt --output out.bmp

It is also possible to provide a texturer image for the checker board.

./raytracer --input input.txt --output out.bmp --texture texture.bmp

Ensure your input.txt is correctly formatted (see below).

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📝 Sample input.txt Explanation

Here's a breakdown of the input file structure:

<near> <far> <fovY> <aspectRatio>

<recursion-level>
<image-resolution>

<checkerboard-width>
<ambientR> <diffuseR> <reflectionR>

<number-of-objects>

<object-type>
<object-parameters...>
...
<object-type>
<object-parameters...>

<number-of-point-lights>
<x> <y> <z> <falloff>

<number-of-spot-lights>
<x> <y> <z> <falloff>
<lookX> <lookY> <lookZ>
<cutoff-angle>

Object types supported:

• sphere
• pyramid

Each object and light entry must follow the correct number of parameters as shown in the example.

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🖼️ Sample Output

Here are some sample rendered images from a provided scene.