I find this to be really interesting. YouTube - PS3 Real-time Ray-tracing
Now my take on this:
Raytracing/casting is possible with quite a few computers.
The questions are, to what complexity and how quickly can it be rendered?
Many factors influence the speed of rendering such as: number of light sources, number of polygons, tolerance of surfaces, texture mapping, overall resolution, inclusion of transparent objects such as lenses, highly reflective surfaces, etc.
Now doing it all in real time is simply amazing. And the PS3 being capable of such a feat kind of took me by surprise.
Wiki definition:
"Ray casting is not a synonym for ray tracing, but can be thought of as an abridged, and significantly faster, version of the ray tracing algorithm. Both are image order algorithms used in computer graphics to render three dimensional scenes to two dimensional screens by following rays of light from the eye of the observer to a light source. Ray casting does not compute the new tangents a ray of light might take after intersecting a surface on its way from the eye to the source of light. This eliminates the possibility of accurately rendering reflections, refractions, or the natural fall off of shadows -- however all of these elements can be faked to a degree, by creative use of texture maps or other methods. The high speed of calculation made ray casting a handy method for the rendering in early real-time 3D video games."
Summary said:
Now my take on this:
Raytracing/casting is possible with quite a few computers.
The questions are, to what complexity and how quickly can it be rendered?
Many factors influence the speed of rendering such as: number of light sources, number of polygons, tolerance of surfaces, texture mapping, overall resolution, inclusion of transparent objects such as lenses, highly reflective surfaces, etc.
Now doing it all in real time is simply amazing. And the PS3 being capable of such a feat kind of took me by surprise.
Wiki definition:
"Ray casting is not a synonym for ray tracing, but can be thought of as an abridged, and significantly faster, version of the ray tracing algorithm. Both are image order algorithms used in computer graphics to render three dimensional scenes to two dimensional screens by following rays of light from the eye of the observer to a light source. Ray casting does not compute the new tangents a ray of light might take after intersecting a surface on its way from the eye to the source of light. This eliminates the possibility of accurately rendering reflections, refractions, or the natural fall off of shadows -- however all of these elements can be faked to a degree, by creative use of texture maps or other methods. The high speed of calculation made ray casting a handy method for the rendering in early real-time 3D video games."