Math 155B - Introduction to Computer Graphics - Winter 2004
 

Project #5 - Getting started with the RayTrace software

Overview:  For this assignment you will manage to compile and run the RayTrace software.  You will also create a simple scene by modifying RayTraceData.cpp or RayTraceData2.cpp in order to learn how to use the ray trace software.

Due date: Wednesday, March 2, midnight.

Turn in:  Email (or post on the web if very large) a GIF or JPEG file showing the scene you have created. Grading will be a on a Yes/No basis.

What to do:

  1. Get the source and project files in one of the following ways:

    1. In the public class directory in the APM basement computer lab PC, there is a folder called RayTraceProjects.  This contains a Visual C++.NET version of the project (or "solution").  You should also be able to get these files by ftp or ssh from ieng9.
    2. Download a Visual C++ 6.0 version of the project from beta version being posted at the textbook's web site.
  2. IMPORTANT:  Due to bugs in how ACS remote mounts volumes and/or in Visual Studio, you can only run Visual C++.NET on the APM basement computers if you put all the files into a folder in the Workspace folder.  THIS WORKSPACE FOLDER IS NON-PERMANENT AND WILL BE DELETED WHEN YOU LOGOFF OR EVEN IF THE MACHINE CRASHES.   It is possible to recover files from the Lost and Found. See more below.
  3. Look at the sample images and read the overviews on the web.   The web site for the new beta version of the software is at http://math.ucsd.edu/~sbuss/MathCG/RayTrace/index2.html.  There is a supplemental page that describes the differences between Release 1.0 and the Release 2.0 versions of the software.  Appendix B in the book describes only the Release 1.0 version of the software.

  4. Run the main project RayTrace (make that the "active" or "startup" project in Visual C++).  At first there is a small OpenGL rendered window.  Press "g" or space to switch to ray tracing mode.  Press "G" to return to OpenGL rendering.  Use arrow keys to adjust the view position, and HOME/END to adjust the distance.  Resize the window bigger, but be prepared to wait longer.

  5. For large windows, be sure to be using Release mode or some optimizing compiler.

  6. Look at the documentation in the appendix.  Look at the source code in RayTrace.cpp, RayTraceData.cpp, RayTrace2.cpp, and RayTraceData2.cpp.  This will look confusing at first, but I will go over a lot of it in class on Friday.

  7. Change the scene shown in either RayTrace or RayTrace2.   At a minimum use a shape, such as a torus, that does not exist in RayTrace.  Experiment with materials a little.  Find out how to make a transparent glassy object.
  8. Capture a screen image and mail it to Peter Schwer (pschwer@cs.ucsd.edu) and me (sbuss@ucsd.edu).

Grading:  Just your emailed image (GIF/JPEG format) will be checked.

Workarounds:  Strategies for dealing with the fact you need to put files in the Workspace folder for Visual Studio to work.  

Do one of the following:

  1. Be very careful to copy all your files back to a permanent location, such as your ieng9 class home directory before you log out.  Also, do this before the system crashes or freezes up on you.  (Anytime you make a lot of changes, save a copy of your source file somewhere).
       Every time you login, you must copy the files back to the workspace area.
  2. Alternately, put the important source files (mostly, the ones you will modify, such as RayTrace.cpp, RayTraceData.cpp, RayTrace2.cpp, and RayTraceData2.cpp) into a fixed location in your permanent ieng9 class home folder.  Put these files into the RayTrace and RayTrace2 projects in place of the source files presently there.  Then update the #includes in these files to refer to the correct locations for the header files.  (Or update your #include path variable.) 
        This second approach takes a little work to setup, but is more foolproof.  You will still have to copy all the project and solution files and the rest of the source files to the workspace everytime you login, but you do not need copy anything out of the workspace before logging off.
  3. If all else fails, try to recover your files from the "Lost and Found" folder in the C: drive.