Ray Tracer Challenge

Introduction

This educational project follows "The Ray Tracer Challenge" by Jamis Buck, learning 3D computer graphics fundamentals, implementing core mathematical primitives and mastering Rust.

Learning Focus

• Rust: Ownership, type safety, const generics, error handling.
• Graphics: Linear algebra, transformations, coordinate systems, color theory.
• TDD: Comprehensive test coverage for mathematical correctness.

Roadmap

• 3D tuples: representing points and vectors.
• Colors: operations, creating canvas and saving to PPM file (Portable Pixmap format).
• Matrices: creating, multiplying, transposing and inverting.
• Matrix transformations: translation, scaling, rotation, shearing.
• Ray-sphere intersections: rays, tracking intersections, identifying hits, transforming rays and spheres.
• Light and shading: surface normals, reflecting vectors, the Phong Reflection Model.
• Scene and camera
• Shadows
• Planes
• Patterns
• Reflection and Refraction
• Cubes
• Cylinders
• Groups, triangles, CSG& and more

Project source files structure

src/
├── lib.rs                    # Main library entry point
├── main.rs                   # Main binary
├── bin/...                   # Example programs 
│ 
├── core/                     # Core math and primitives
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── tuple.rs              # Points, vectors, colors as tuples
│   ├── matrix.rs             # Matrix operations and transformations
│   └── utils.rs              # Constants (EPSILON) and utility functions
│ 
├── graphics/                 # Graphics primitives
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── canvas.rs             # Canvas and pixel operations
│   ├── color.rs              # Color operations
│   └── ray.rs                # Ray definitions and operations
│ 
├── geometry/                 # Geometric shapes and intersections
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── shape.rs              # Shape 
│   ├── sphere.rs             # Sphere implementation
│   └── intersection.rs       # Intersection calculations
│ 
├── lighting/                 # Lighting and materials
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── material.rs           # Material properties
│   ├── light.rs              # Light sources and calculations
│   └── ...
│ 
├── scene/                    # Scene composition
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── world.rs              # World and scene management
│   └── ...
...

Quick Start

Prerequisites:

• Rust 2024 edition or later
• Cargo (comes with Rust)

git clone https://github.com/ipersids/rust-ray-tracer-challenge.git ray_tracer
cd ray_tracer

# Build first, then run the optimized binary directly
cargo build --release
./target/release/06-shading

# Or use release mode for specific binary
cargo run --release --bin 06-shading

# Or use debug mode
cargo run --bin 06-shading

# To run all tests use command
cargo test

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Developed by Julia Persidskaia.