ray_trace

render 3D surface objects using ray tracing

ray_trace [options] <scene_description>

DESCRIPTION

ray_trace renders 3D scenes of BIC-format surface objects and volumes using a ray-tracing algorithm. It reads a scene description file that specifies the camera position, lighting parameters, background colour, and the surfaces or volumes to render, then produces a high-quality image output.

The scene description file configures the rendering environment including light sources (position, colour, intensity), viewing parameters (eye position, look-at point, field of view, window size), and references to BIC .obj surface files with their associated rendering properties (colour, transparency, specularity).

ray_trace is typically used for producing publication-quality renderings of cortical surfaces, segmentation results, or other 3D objects generated by the BIC toolchain.

OPTIONS

-output <filename>
Specify the output image filename. The format is determined by the extension.
-size <width> <height>
Set the output image dimensions in pixels.
-bg <colour>
Set the background colour of the rendered scene.
-crop
Crop the output image to the bounding box of rendered objects.
-shadow
Enable shadow casting from light sources.
-sup <n>
Set the supersampling factor for anti-aliasing. Higher values produce smoother images at the cost of rendering time.

EXAMPLES

Render a scene description to an image file:

ray_trace scene.desc

Render a scene with a specific output size:

ray_trace -size 1024 768 -output brain_render.rgb scene.desc

AUTHOR

David MacDonald - McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.

COPYRIGHTS

Copyright © 1993-2000 by David MacDonald

SEE ALSO

Display register