http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog daily 0.75 2015-07-22 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/2015/7/22/ant-simulator-update-video monthly 0.5 2015-07-22 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/2015/6/20/what-am-i-doing-almost-a-year-later monthly 0.5 2015-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1434825596395-5FKXECGZ836D1NXH2E13/image-asset.png Blog - What Am I Doing, Almost a Year Later https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1434825213001-M9PS45VWOMAFH5ANU39I/image-asset.png Blog - What Am I Doing, Almost a Year Later https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1434825083160-BJQNUE4W0ZRJQO4YQUBS/image-asset.png Blog - What Am I Doing, Almost a Year Later http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/2013/10/14/started-developing-boids-for-ios monthly 0.5 2013-10-15 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/2013/10/14/kg54jv7oct0x8rxy785lunmzs27y5d monthly 0.5 2013-10-14 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/2013/9/15/impressions-of-squarespace monthly 0.5 2013-10-14 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/iPhone monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/computer monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/game monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/paul+solt monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/cartoon monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/graphics monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/cocos monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/mike+lyman monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/iOS monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/iphone monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/new-blog/tag/animation monthly 0.5 http://mike-lyman.com/ray-tracer-gallery daily 0.75 2013-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379470880875-TVRSZEXEPLQIWX5S1WRA/original.jpg Ray Tracer Gallery - Goal The goal of the project was to recreate a scene like this one via ray tracing. Next I'll walk you through my process visually with a series of screenshots of major milestones and issues that I ran into.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379470880875-TVRSZEXEPLQIWX5S1WRA/original.jpg Ray Tracer Gallery - Goal The goal of the project was to recreate a scene like this one via ray tracing. Next I'll walk you through my process visually with a series of screenshots of major milestones and issues that I ran into.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379472558897-KEVD7YTUT236ZYDMIMDP/ParticleSystem2013-03-1222-51-50-84.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Test Image Before creating a ray tracer I needed to have a rough estimate of the locations in space of the objects I would be rendering. In order to approximate some values to use in my ray tracer, I modeled the scene with C# and Microsoft XNA. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300639-JYAUD3YI7QPHJ3PI9JFR/screenOrig.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Goal 1: Objects This was the first image my ray tracer produced (not counting debugging images to achieve this one). Using C++ I wrote a basic ray tracer that could handle two kinds of primitives: spheres and triangles. Here you see the basic primitives rendered in solid color because I hadn't yet implemented shading. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300562-IT15I6QXU0CF9OQ6SFAR/Screen+shot+2013-04-08+at+2.42.37+PM.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Shading Bug While working on basic shading, this 'Easter-egg' effect was accidentally produced.  The error here was with how I computed the diffuse and specular lighting components: I calculated them by taking a cross-product when I should have performed simple multiplication. Next time I would need to be more explicit and differentiate between my Matrix Math library functions and regular operations.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300534-RRETFUQ4339QS4OI4FXZ/phongMultipleLights.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Phong Shading The correct implementation of Phong shading after I corrected the bug from the previous image. I applied shading to the floor triangles as well.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300447-8AR5FWFJCH8KVAJE1S4Z/proceduralTExture.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Procedural Texture Using a algorithm I applied a texture to the triangles that is calculated at runtime. No texture image files needed! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300365-9GZNX1C633MH72LIDS9S/reflectionAllObjects.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Reflections Here reflections have been implemented. Reflections occurs when an original ray hits a reflective surface and then another ray is spawned in a direction based off the angle of the original ray.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300478-F7DUIK7TSOLDND7J8FIN/Screen+shot+2013-05-05+at+12.17.05+AM.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Transmission bug Ran into a bug with transmission. It was an issue with the reflection rays (rays produced when a parent ray collides with an object that can transmit it) being calculated incorrectly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300129-Q017C7LDXGSO5B7A9D5Q/superSampling1Ray.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Transmission Transmission working correctly after addressing the previous issue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299769-E7OGCJ3P6ND2KHJW9JR1/superSampling16Rays.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Super Sampling 8 rays In this case, 8 light rays are spawned per-pixel of the image, then their results are averaged together. Produces a slightly smoother, more accurate image. Super sampling produces a better image but also takes longer to produce an image because the number of calculations increases. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299717-WPJ7R4I7LPMM4YCH8N8F/superSampling8Rays.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Super Sampling 16 Super sampling again, this time with 16 rays.  The differences are slight but if you look at the edges of the transparent sphere you can notice that this image is even smoother than the super sampling 8 image, and even more so than the original, single ray per-pixel image.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299860-LRJ6WL3J9U4PGMHFM3AM/superSamplingBlurPwLarge.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Super Sampling Blur In this image super sampling is happening but the rays' directions are being altered slightly to produce a blur effect.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379473459515-92B7ITH2TQUQLAOBG8PK/reflection2.png Ray Tracer Gallery - Final Product Here is an image from my finished ray tracer. It showcases use of shadows, reflections, and procedural textures. http://mike-lyman.com/about daily 0.75 2015-06-20 http://mike-lyman.com/blog daily 0.75 2013-10-14 http://mike-lyman.com/welcome daily 1.0 2014-07-18 http://mike-lyman.com/game-development daily 0.75 2013-09-15 http://mike-lyman.com/computer-graphics daily 0.75 2013-09-15 http://mike-lyman.com/projects daily 0.75 2014-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1405645496983-J2COPG4LDJ6Q33F77WBP/image-asset.png Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380218124334-BVFTR2LKVA9SXRWXBMO0/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+6.22.03+AM.png Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379473889199-WADT8HA73KVMZADON8JB/reflectionAllObjects.png Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379474048980-DIPJVB608NTSSM4277FK/Screen+shot+2013-09-17+at+10.05.59+PM.png Projects http://mike-lyman.com/ray-tracer daily 0.75 2013-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379473396152-DB4C6086EDLDIPX7ECW5/reflectionAllObjects.png Ray Tracer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379470880875-TVRSZEXEPLQIWX5S1WRA/original.jpg Ray Tracer - Goal The goal of the project was to recreate a scene like this one via ray tracing. Next I'll walk you through my process visually with a series of screenshots of major milestones and issues that I ran into.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379472558897-KEVD7YTUT236ZYDMIMDP/ParticleSystem2013-03-1222-51-50-84.png Ray Tracer - Test Image Before creating a ray tracer I needed to have a rough estimate of the locations in space of the objects I would be rendering. In order to approximate some values to use in my ray tracer, I modeled the scene with C# and Microsoft XNA. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300639-JYAUD3YI7QPHJ3PI9JFR/screenOrig.png Ray Tracer - Goal 1: Objects This was the first image my ray tracer produced (not counting debugging images to achieve this one). Using C++ I wrote a basic ray tracer that could handle two kinds of primitives: spheres and triangles. Here you see the basic primitives rendered in solid color because I hadn't yet implemented shading. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300562-IT15I6QXU0CF9OQ6SFAR/Screen+shot+2013-04-08+at+2.42.37+PM.png Ray Tracer - Shading Bug While working on basic shading, this 'Easter-egg' effect was accidentally produced.  The error here was with how I computed the diffuse and specular lighting components: I calculated them by taking a cross-product when I should have performed simple multiplication. Next time I would need to be more explicit and differentiate between my Matrix Math library functions and regular operations.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300534-RRETFUQ4339QS4OI4FXZ/phongMultipleLights.png Ray Tracer - Phong Shading The correct implementation of Phong shading after I corrected the bug from the previous image. I applied shading to the floor triangles as well.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300447-8AR5FWFJCH8KVAJE1S4Z/proceduralTExture.png Ray Tracer - Procedural Texture Using a algorithm I applied a texture to the triangles that is calculated at runtime. No texture image files needed! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300365-9GZNX1C633MH72LIDS9S/reflectionAllObjects.png Ray Tracer - Reflections Here reflections have been implemented. Reflections occurs when an original ray hits a reflective surface and then another ray is spawned in a direction based off the angle of the original ray.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300478-F7DUIK7TSOLDND7J8FIN/Screen+shot+2013-05-05+at+12.17.05+AM.png Ray Tracer - Transmission bug Ran into a bug with transmission. It was an issue with the reflection rays (rays produced when a parent ray collides with an object that can transmit it) being calculated incorrectly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208300129-Q017C7LDXGSO5B7A9D5Q/superSampling1Ray.png Ray Tracer - Transmission Transmission working correctly after addressing the previous issue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299769-E7OGCJ3P6ND2KHJW9JR1/superSampling16Rays.png Ray Tracer - Super Sampling 8 rays In this case, 8 light rays are spawned per-pixel of the image, then their results are averaged together. Produces a slightly smoother, more accurate image. Super sampling produces a better image but also takes longer to produce an image because the number of calculations increases. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299717-WPJ7R4I7LPMM4YCH8N8F/superSampling8Rays.png Ray Tracer - Super Sampling 16 Super sampling again, this time with 16 rays.  The differences are slight but if you look at the edges of the transparent sphere you can notice that this image is even smoother than the super sampling 8 image, and even more so than the original, single ray per-pixel image.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379208299860-LRJ6WL3J9U4PGMHFM3AM/superSamplingBlurPwLarge.png Ray Tracer - Super Sampling Blur In this image super sampling is happening but the rays' directions are being altered slightly to produce a blur effect.  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379473459515-92B7ITH2TQUQLAOBG8PK/reflection2.png Ray Tracer - Final Product Here is an image from my finished ray tracer. It showcases use of shadows, reflections, and procedural textures. http://mike-lyman.com/boids daily 0.75 2014-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380214435836-MN9J1VNLRM3EIE3JW7XV/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+6.22.03+AM.png WebGL Flocking Boids https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380214722300-I6NWK1MJMZT1KM5UL4QJ/image-asset.gif WebGL Flocking Boids Separation: steer to avoid crowding local flockmates https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380214777684-J85YXZ31TIB0H3MMO8O2/image-asset.gif WebGL Flocking Boids Cohesion: steer to move toward the average position of local flockmates https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380214756404-W2O15JHCDH8RSOFGNFAB/image-asset.gif WebGL Flocking Boids Alignment: steer towards the average heading of local flockmates   Images and descriptions of steering behaviors found on Carl Reynold's boids web page:  http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380104421287-Y7YT5ZAGTD6Y8K1C1YAQ/Screen+shot+2013-05-16+at+11.44.45+PM.png WebGL Flocking Boids Boids with moderate cohesion, separation, and alignment traveling in a school. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380104473335-P0L8LFU4QC09X31K92AK/Screen+shot+2013-05-16+at+11.47.47+PM.png WebGL Flocking Boids Boids with a very high cohesion forming a tight cluster. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1380104449004-UP6N1ZQ8FDQ7X7QNV5DS/Screen+shot+2013-05-16+at+11.50.07+PM.png WebGL Flocking Boids These boids have low cohesion and high avoidance, making them spread out in a cloud. http://mike-lyman.com/interactive-music-video daily 0.75 2013-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379470135791-7PU4UFAN7Z340LQT9Z3Z/Screen+shot+2013-09-17+at+10.05.59+PM.png Interactive Music Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1379470087927-N6MHQ9CHBK9H9VQIKGT5/Screen+shot+2013-09-17+at+10.05.59+PM.png Interactive Music Video Preview of the final product http://mike-lyman.com/flash-games daily 0.75 2013-09-18 http://mike-lyman.com/under-contruction daily 0.75 2014-07-17 http://mike-lyman.com/bomb-dodge daily 0.75 2014-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5234ac89e4b0bfcfa19a0fe9/1405644675489-RFGZE1739F2Q10CA878A/Bomb+Dodge.png Bomb Dodge