Ray Tracing

Ray tracing is a graphics technique that calculates the path of light rays through a scene as they hit, reflect off and pass through objects. It produces more physically accurate reflections, shadows, refraction and global lighting than traditional rasterization shortcuts.

Why it matters

Ray tracing has long been used in film because it is computationally expensive. Modern GPUs include dedicated hardware to run a limited number of rays in real time, so games can use it for selected effects such as reflections or shadows. It usually lowers FPS, so many games pair it with upscaling or lower settings to stay playable. Real-time results are often a hybrid: rasterization for most of the image and ray tracing for specific effects.

Example

For a reflection in a puddle, the renderer:

1. Casts a ray from the camera to the puddle surface.
2. Bounces a new ray in the mirror direction.
3. Finds the object it hits, such as a neon sign, and uses its color for that pixel.

Rasterized games often fake this with a pre-made image that cannot show off-screen objects.

Common mistakes

• Turning on every ray tracing option on a GPU that cannot hold a smooth frame rate.
• Expecting the same visible gain in every scene; the effect is largest with reflective surfaces and complex lighting.
• Confusing ray tracing with HDR, which concerns brightness and color range.

Related

• GPU
• FPS
• Unreal Engine
• HDR

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