Overview
For my final project, I experimented with scenes that included a lot of refraction, and also modified my ray tracer to include texture mapping. Texture mapping was included in the pov files, by including a "texture" field in the finish. The word after texture denoted the name of the jpg texture to import.
This web page also shows screenshots from a small virtual reality project I created for Google Cardboard. The project displays a space scene that walks the viewer through a galaxy filled with different planets.
Renders
I created three separate renders with my ray tracer. These images show off the raytracer's ability to render refractive objects and also objects with textures. All scenes are rendered 1280x960
This first scene is a space scene where I colored spheres with different planet textures. All of the purple rings around the magma planet are also spheres, and ever star in the scene is a sphere. This scene has over 2000 objects, however it runs fairly quickly with my BVH. With anti-aliasing at 1280x960, this scene takes about 2 minutes to render.
For this next scene, I was trying to model a refraction effect you see in a swimming pool. I have a three tall boxes that are placed in the "water", which is really just a refractive box. The ior for the box is 1.33. I really like the effect of the refraction, as you can clearly see how light bounces through these areas differently. We can also see that with Schlick's approximation, there is some reflection on the top of the refractive box, especially with the purple object. With anti-aliasing, this scene takes about 1.5 minutes to render at 1280x960.
This last image is my favorite of the bunch, and combines texture mapping with refraction. I created a refractive bunny that is backed by Van Gogh's Starry Night. The bunny is really surrounded by a texture mapped sphere. All triangles in the bunny mesh are refractive. The ior for the bunny is 1.2. With anti-aliasing at 1280x960, this scene takes about 13 minutes.
Virtual Reality
I created a virtual reality scene where the camera moves through a space environment containing a spaceship and different planets. The user can look in all directions to see their surroundings. I also created a sky box with a space texture.
