Ray Tracer in Java

• Current version: 0.5
• Build environment: mac OS X 10.11, IntelliJ IDEA 2016.2.4

Introduction

This is a simple ray tracer implemented in Java 8, followed the instructions from the book Ray Tracer from the Ground Up. The original code was C++. To practice my Java skill I choose to translate and improve the original one. In fact, Java is not a good choice for this task, for the sake of efficiency and elegance (Java do not support operator overloading hence it's super ugly to implement a Math library in Java).

Current Process

• Sep 28, 2016: Working on Sampler classes. Correlation with World and ViewPlane needs to be fixed.
• Oct 1, 2016: Beginning to write rendering methods with materials, lights, and BRDFs.
• Oct 1, 2016: Writing unit tests for all classes.
• Oct 15, 2016: Now it works. The following work is to improve samplers, brdfs, and find a good way to test each modulo efficiently.

Style List

Getters and setters

Except these fundamental classes in utilities, including Point2D, Point3D, Vector3D, Normal, and RgbColor, all data fields should be private or package-private, and should be accessed/modified by getters/setters. The basic guide line is to make all classes manageable.

TODO List

• Improving all classes' constructors, especially providing new builder factory constructors.
• Maintenance of getters and setters.