Introduction
This project demonstrates ray tracing and particle simulation using OpenGL. The scene combines static models, dynamic lights, and particle effects to showcase soft shadows, ambient occlusion, and real-time simulation.
Approach
The scene is built using a hybrid pipeline:
Ray Tracing
- Static snowman model and dynamic light spheres are ray-traced.
- Soft shadows are computed using adjustable sample count and light radius.
- Spherical Ambient Occlusion enhances depth perception and realism.
- Early exit optimization is applied to rays with low attenuation for better performance.
Particle Simulation
- Particles are rasterized while their motion is computed in the vertex shader.
- Dissolving and decay effects are implemented in geometry and fragment shaders.
- Simulation parameters such as particle count and size are configurable at runtime.
Combination
- Ray-traced scene and particle simulation are combined for the final output.
- Adjustable effects allow balancing visual quality and performance.
Performance
Tested on: Intel Core i5-1335U, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB RAM
| Scene | FPS (CPU–GPU) |
|---|---|
| Ray Tracing Basic* | 14–16 |
| w/ Max Particle Simulation | 13–14 |
| w/ Max Shadow Sample | 2–3 |
| w/ Max Ambient Occlusion | 2–2.5 |
*Basic configuration: 3–100 reflections, 16 shadow samples, 16 ambient occlusion samples, 4096 particles
Conclusion
This project demonstrates a real-time hybrid rendering approach, combining ray tracing for realistic lighting and shadows with GPU-accelerated particle simulations. Optimizations like early exit and adjustable sampling make it feasible on mid-range hardware while maintaining high visual fidelity.