Raytracing Explained

My explanation of how to render 3d computer graphics with raytracing.

[JokerFace]

I remember when I was a kid in the PS2 era, my friend was telling me how he read about video games will never be able to have photorealistic graphics because lighting is too complicated even for future CPUs to process. I thought about that alot, years later, when I was learning how to paint. Ray-tracing as a "cheat code" to only simulate the lighting needed and thus reducing CPU power needed - is sort of a miraculous innovation. When people invent stuff like this it is the type of thing that should be on the news tbh.

[thestromdargon]

You explained it in 3 mins, better than my computer graphics teacher for which she took 3 lectures of 45 mins each

[Navidain]

Excellent video. Straight to the point and, as a layman, I still fully understood what you were explaining.
Most Youtubers would have took a good 15+ minutes (not to mention the pointless intro, channel logo vid and the half time advert) trying to convey what you amply covered in less than two minutes. Thank you.

[MortonCammar]

Ray-tracing (and simulated ray tracing) is a game changer for simulated graphics. The second we realised every material reflects to a certain extent, games began to look way better.

[Trombonaut]

Awesome video, the visuals and the script are both very well put together and are more functionally concise than anything else out there. Thank you!

[alexandrosiacovou]

i clicked on this video knowing damn well i won't understand a thing even if this guy explained it in the best way possible.

[markobisevac]

Short and concise explanation, good for getting started, thanks!

[TheGameSolvers]

subscribed for the concise manner of explanation, though with the way you explain, i wouldnt mind long form videos from you either. Keep it up! Thank you

[isaacwren]

Great video! You gave a pretty comprehensive explanation in less then half the time of linus tech tips' "techquickie" video on this subject. Keep it up!

[Cellmate]

That thumbnail made me think this was a most extreme video.

[Sphyxx]

RTX when it came out: OMG This is amazing! Look at the detail
RTX today: RTX Off

[thenorwegiantimelaps]

Thank you for making a simple and consise explanation. It was also an enjoyable vidio

[nguyenhoangminhtrung]

So instead from light to eye
eye to all lights

very nice video!

[stendaneel]

omfg why does no one explain how to calculate the direction the ray bounces to

[JellycarpPhD]

if you ever come back to polish this, re-record the lines around 1:05 - 1:20, some of the words are very difficult to understand .
thank you for making this video !
for anyone looking, elbert says : " ray tracing, as it stands now, is just too computationally expensive in a gaming context, where the screen needs to be recalculated 60 times a second . even ~~in~~ demos today you see are still hybrids of raytracing and rasterizing, the current widespread way of rendering graphics in games, but its the software that software developers and hardware manufacturers are optimizing towards . "

[Mallaien]

I got a chance to mess around with the early ray tracing algorithms, on a 386DX processor/math co processor, that would output into a Raw Targa file. I had to code the scene using basic geometric primitives and (x.y.z) coordinates, there wasn't even a GUI out for it. Had to draw everything out by hand on graph paper, then write it out in ASCII for the render software. it would take hours to render one frame. I met two other kids doing similar stuff on a 486DX computer around the same time, they are the brothers strause who would create one of the first VFX companies in Santa Monica, and then eventually that ran Hydrolux studio.

[RedHatGuyYT]

it's crazy that this has been a thing since 1979

[newoether]

Awesome video. But btw I'm curious about how you made this animation. I guess you used houdini?

[bisvizstudio]

I'm an amateur 3D artist. Raytracing still needs some work, especially in things like reflection. I work with Unreal Engine 5 that has Lumen Raytracing technology and the reflection on that is so bad, still so far away from the physically accurate Pathtracing.

[CommanderCodyChipless]

I understand the concept of raytracing. Still, i don't seem to have an eye for noticing raytracing. I have tried games where they have a raytracing option so you can test out both visuals but when I have distinguish the two the only thing I'm noticing is lower frame rate and really no change to shadows. Maybe within the next generation of consoles where frame rate is less of an issue on that raytracing will be radically noticeable, but at this stage it's not something I'm needing to have for my games