Ray-Tracing Programs and Plug-ins

Abstract

There are 70 or so ray-tracing programs available, plus ray-tracing capabilities in many major CAD, 3D modeling, and content creation programs. The idea of creating a photorealistic, physically accurate synthetic image is so compelling and exciting; literally, hundreds of people have tried to do over the past 60 years. It takes such specialized skill and such an extensive material library that no single program can satisfy all the needs of all applications or stages of a project. It is not uncommon for a film or design studio to employ two to five different ray-tracing programs on one project. That reveals how vast the requirements are and why there are so many programs. And many of the programs are free, so there is no economic barrier to using ray tracing.