Guide for beginners: What is Ray Casting?

Ray Casting is a rendering technique used in computer graphics and geometry. Ray Casting plays an improtant role in the creating process of an 3D configurator. It is able to generate a three-dimensional perspective in a two-dimensional map. It was developed by scientists from the Mathematical Applications Group in the 1960s and is considered one of the basic algorithms for graphical representation. Ray Casting uses the same geometric algorithm as Ray Tracing.

Ray Casting is capable of converting a limited form of data into a three-dimensional projection by tracking rays from the viewer’s point of view into the visual volume. The main principle of ray casting is that rays can be cast and tracked in groups based on certain geometric conditions. In ray casting, a beam is obtained from the pixel through the camera and the intersection of all objects in the image is calculated. The pixel value is then obtained from the nearest intersection and used as the basis for the projection. Ray Casting is different from Ray Tracing, where Ray Casting is a rendering algorithm that would never follow secondary beams recursively, while Ray Tracing is capable of doing so. Ray casting is also easy to use compared to other rendering algorithms such as ray tracing.

Ray Casting is fast because only one calculation is required for each vertical line of the screen. Compared to ray tracing, ray casting is faster because it is limited by one or more geometric constraints. This is one of the reasons why Ray Casting was the most popular rendering tool in early 3D video games.

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