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Rendering Pipeline & Ray Tracing

A compact renderer developed in stages — from drawing primitives to a simple CPU ray tracer.

Scene dataprimitives · camera
Raster / ray stagedraw · trace
Frame outputpixels · image
INPUTOUTPUT
02rendering modes
C++semester implementation
CPUray-tracing path
Teamwith Ondřej Pelech
// rendering pipeline

A small renderer with a clear progression.

A semester project co-authored with Ondřej Pelech. The team first built the basic rendering path for shapes and geometric primitives, then extended the software with a simple ray-tracing mode and the supporting rendering pipeline.

The project is useful as a compact example of how a renderer grows: first establish a reliable path for geometry and primitives, then add a second mode that evaluates rays against the scene.

  • Worked on the staged renderer from primitive drawing to ray tracing
  • Contributed to the rendering pipeline and interactive application flow
  • Implemented and connected graphics features in a shared codebase
  • Co-authored the semester project with Ondřej Pelech
// pipeline stages

From primitives to a simple ray tracer.

01

Primitive pass

The first milestone was displaying basic shapes and primitives through a conventional rendering path.

02

Scene representation

Scene objects, camera data and geometric information form the shared input for the renderer.

03

Ray tracing mode

A simple CPU ray-tracing path was added after the primitive renderer, extending the same scene into a second image-making mode.

04

Interactive output

The application provides a compact environment for comparing the two approaches and inspecting the rendered result.

// rendered results

The pipeline, in four frames.

Selected output images from the semester renderer: primitive drawing first, followed by ray-traced geometry, reflections and a lit scene.

Simple renderer scene with geometric primitives
Primitive rendering pass — the first working stage of the project.
Ray-traced spheres in a reflective room
Ray tracing with reflective spheres and a lit environment.
Ray-traced reflective spheres in a mirrored scene
Recursive reflections and repeated geometry in the scene.
Ray-traced room with coloured lights and shadows
Lighting, shadows and material response in a simple room.
// same category

Shader work completes the picture.

The OpenGL shader project is an earlier, smaller reference for programmable graphics stages.

View OpenGL shaders
Interested in graphics systems?

Let's build the pipeline behind the image.

Work with me →