Ray tracing

Ray tracing is a computational method that follows geometric rays through a scene or medium. It predicts how rays travel, interact with surfaces, and contribute to an image or physical measurement.

Geometric optics: The model of light as rays traveling along paths governed by reflection and refraction. Ray tracing computes the paths that geometric optics describes.
Path tracing: A rendering algorithm that estimates light transport by sampling complete paths through a scene. It uses traced paths to produce global illumination in rendered images.
Rasterization: A rendering method that projects geometric primitives onto image pixels. It usually determines visible surfaces without tracing recursive light paths.
Ray (mathematics): A half-line that begins at an origin and extends indefinitely in one direction. A traced path is represented mathematically by an origin and direction.
Global illumination: The modeling of direct and indirect light throughout a scene. Ray tracing can capture indirect illumination from light bouncing between surfaces.
Ray casting: A technique that tests rays against scene geometry to find the nearest intersection. It is the basic visibility test used in many ray-tracing algorithms.
Whitted-style ray tracing: A recursive rendering method that traces reflected and refracted rays from visible surfaces. This classic form models sharp reflections and transparency with recursive rays.
Radiosity: A rendering method that computes diffuse light exchange among surfaces. It solves diffuse interreflection as surface energy exchange rather than sampled rays.
Surface normal: A vector perpendicular to a surface at a specified point. Surface normals determine how rays reflect and refract at intersections.
Computer graphics: The creation and manipulation of visual images using computers. Ray tracing became a major alternative to projection-based rendering in graphics.

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