CST 325 - Module 7/8

 Weeks 7 & 8,

This is a combined journal entry because we were given more time to implement our final projects along with learning how to add shadows (outside of raytracing). It was simpler to implement in the ray-tracer assignment because we have access to all the objects during render time. For rasterization, we have two options, make a volume based on the object in front of the light, casted into the shadowed object, or use an image texture (shadow mapping). Focusing on shadow mapping, it is interesting to see we consider a light source as a camera and use it to create a depth texture. Then render from our main camera and compare the object's distance from the light using the depth texture. Although it is still confusing to keep in mind the different spaces (world, view, clip, and texture space), the core idea of an object's distance matching up with the depth texture’s value on that pixel helps grasp the idea.

Otherwise, the final was a fun task because it allows us to use some core concepts in using WebGL to create our own solar system. For me, the most interesting part was messing with the shaders to get different appearances of the object being rendered. I learned quite a bit of cool tricks with the shaders alone.

Overall, this was a very cool and interesting course and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about graphics programming.

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