Graphics Project Structure

This project is organized to support a modular ray tracing and rendering pipeline, with support for various rendering algorithms, scene descriptions, and image output formats. Below is an overview of the main directories and files:

Directory Structure

• src/: Source code for the core rendering engine and utilities.

  • main.cpp: Main entry point for the renderer.
  • scene.cpp: Scene management, including object and light setup, YAML parsing, and photon mapping radiance estimation.
  • object3D.cpp, material.cpp, geometry.cpp: Implementations for 3D objects, materials, and geometric utilities.
  • pinholeCamera.cpp: Camera model for rendering.
  • parallel_renderer.cpp: Parallel rendering logic.
  • rendering_strategy.cpp: This is where the different rendering strategies have their main method implemented.`
  • render_config.cpp: Configuration for rendering algorithms and modes.
  • acceleration.cpp: Acceleration structures (e.g., KD-tree) for efficient ray tracing. But we have not used it at the end.
  • kernel.cpp: Kernels for photon mapping.
  • toneMapping.cpp: Tone mapping operators for image output.
  • Image.cpp: Image I/O (PPM, BMP) and manipulation.

• include/: C++ header files for all major classes and utilities, matching the source files in src/.

• test/: Test programs for different components and features.

  • test_p2.cpp: Tests for image I/O and tone mapping.
  • test_p3.cpp: Comprehensive tests for ray tracing, path tracing, parallelization, and acceleration structures.
  • test_yaml.cpp: Tests for YAML-based scene and configuration loading/saving.
  • Other test files for geometry, intersection, and parallel rendering.

• assets/: Example input images (PPM) and zipped datasets for testing and demonstration.

• configs/: YAML configuration files for rendering settings.

• scenes/: YAML scene descriptions, including geometry, materials, lights, and camera setups.

• test_outputs/: Output directory for generated images and YAML files from tests.

• build/: Compiled object files and binaries.

• Makefile: Build instructions for the project.

• README.md: This file.

Key Concepts

• Rendering Algorithms: Supports ray tracing, path tracing, and photon mapping.
• Parallelization: Multi-threaded rendering with configurable region types and thread counts.
• Acceleration Structures: Optional KD-tree for efficient intersection tests in complex scenes.
• YAML Support: Scenes and render configs can be loaded and saved in YAML format for flexibility.
• Image Output: Supports PPM and BMP formats, with tone mapping and post-processing.

Getting Started

1. Build the project using make.
2. To render images run ./build/main --help for usage instructions.
3. To define scenes, use the YAML format described in scenes/scene_yaml_format.md.
4. To change the rendering configuration, edit the YAML file default_config.yaml.
5. To run only tonemap operators use ./build/tonemap for instructions.

For more details, see the comments in the source and test files.