“Ray Tracing: A Silent Movie & Some Slides” by Sweeney and Forsey

  • ©Michael Sweeney and David Forsey  University of Waterloo


Conference:


SIGGRAPH Video Review:


Track:


    04

Title:


    Ray Tracing: A Silent Movie & Some Slides

Director(s):


Company / Institution / Agency:


  • University of Waterloo

Description:


    This presents a series of stills, in the old-time tradition, explaining ray tracing, and ends with 30 seconds of animation. The animated sequence is a flight through a synthetic lake scene.

Hardware:


    HARDWARE: VAX 11/780, Genisco frame buffer, Ampex
    frame store

Software:


    SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: Images are ray traced by software produced by
    Michael Sweeney. The text was prepared with a
    program by David Forsey. Doris Kochanek’s spline
    interpolation was used for the ’tweening.


Additional Contributors:


    Michael Sweeney, David Forsey
    Produced at: The University of Waterloo, Computer Graphics Laboratory, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 1984


Additional Information:


    Format: 4:30; 3/4″; sound

    Technical notes:
    The raytracing program used is capable of rendering
    texture mapped fractals (the mountains in the
    animated sequence) and free-form B-spline surfaces
    (the two central columns of the sequence).

Animation / Video Overview:


Type: