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Object-Oriented Ray Tracing in C++ by Nicholas Wilt Recommended

ISBN: 0-471-30414-X       Publisher: Wiley       Pages: 440pp + disk       Price: £58-00

Categories:   object oriented     graphics

Reviewed by John Draper in C Vu 6-6 (Sep 1994)

Rather than building stand alone applications the author concentrates on a class library approach. This makes the code much more reusable, but you should be clear that the book makes no pretence of describing how to use C++. You will need some sort of C++ reference if you are not already versed in the language. Such references are
suggested in the list of books for further reading. With this book and the suggestions I will be kept busy for some time to come.

The chapters firstly detail Ray Tracing, vectors and matrices, without drowning the reader in either detail or the mathematics. I am a mathematics graduate but I think that most readers will have little problem with this text. Next follow descriptions of Shading, Different Types of Object and how they can be implemented. Additional chapters describe Acceleration Techniques, to give faster results; Texture Mapping, Distributed Ray Tracing and Constructive Solid Geometry. Each chapter deals with the topic clearly at a level that explains without undue detail and ends with exercises aimed at motivating the reader to develop his/her understanding.

The appendices of the book begin with a (very) brief introduction to C++ and then moves on to a detailed description of the class library. This section is intended as both a reference and user manual for the library. Each class is listed together with lists of Data members and member functions.

In addition to the above the source disc contains a Utility Library which is a set of programs using to create textures, objects and surfaces.

Finally a set of examples are presented to use the class library together with the utilities.

The library, utilities and examples must be installed before use. Both DOS and Windows are supported but the DOS implementation suffers from lack of memory. Windows development is supported using Borland's EasyWin Library. A detailed description of how to install is given. The procedure worked without problem on my system (a bit outdated now - 386DX). Really to utilise this library you will need a faster machine, the book recommends at least 486.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to begin to investigate Ray Tracing and associated techniques.