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1992-09-13
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"Light Makes Right"
August 29, 1989
Volume 2, Number 5
Compiled by Eric Haines, 3D/Eye Inc, 2359 Triphammer Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850
hpfcla!hpfcrs!eye!erich@hplabs.hp.com, wrath.cs.cornell.edu!eye!erich
[distributed by Michael Cohen <m-cohen@cs.utah.edu>, but send
contributions and subscriptions requests to Eric Haines]
All contents are US copyright (c) 1989 by the individual authors
Contents:
Introduction
A SIGGRAPH Report, by Eric Haines
Ray Tracing Poll, from the roundtable discussion
_An Introduction to Ray Tracing_, Announcement and Errata
_Graphics Gems_ Call for Contributions, by Andrew Glassner
New People and Address Changes
Bugs in MTV's Ray Tracer, by Eric Haines
Bug in SPD, from Pete Segal
Solid Textures Tidbit, by Roman Kuchkuda
Sundry Comments, by Jeff Goldsmith
Texture Mapping Question, by Susan Spach
======== USENET cullings follow ========
Ray Traced Image Files, by Prem Subramanyan
Image Collection, by Paul Raveling
MTV-Raytracer on ATARI ST - precision error report, by Dan Riley
Question on Ray Tracing Bicubic Parametric Patches, by Robert Minsk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
Now that the "RT News" is posted on comp.graphics, I'd like to make a
few changes. First of all, you really don't need to get on the subscription
list of the RT News if you're an avid reader of comp.graphics. However, I do
want to maintain an emailing list of people interested in ray tracing.
So, I'll be keeping a single address list of interested people (which
I will call the "contact list"), and only some of the people on this list need
to be sent copies of the RT News. Furthermore, it would be nice if various
schools, etc, would make a single email address the place where they will
receive the RT News. For example, Duke has "raycasting@duke.cs.duke.edu" as
the address to which I should send the RT News. They also have individuals on
the address list, but individual copies are not sent to them. Instead, the
"raycasting" account they have remails the RT News to all people that are
interested at Duke. In this way I can cut down on having issues sent out
unnecessarily, of worrying about bounced mail, of maintaining a long mailing
list (currently about 100 people), etc etc.
To summarize, there are then a few different ways you can be listed.
1) Individual subscriber - You don't read comp.graphics and want to
get the RT News. Your name is put on the subscriber list and the
contact list. To subscribe, simply send me your name, email and
snail mail addresses, and a one line summary (that I'll put next to
your name) describing any special areas you're interested in (e.g.
"parallelism, radiosity, filtering" might be one). You might also
send me a few paragraphs about what you're up to nowadays, and I'll
include this in the News.
2) Group subscriber - Like Duke. This way you have full control over
who will automatically get an issue, and I won't have to change my
subscriber list each time someone else wants to get the RT News.
Some people have already switched over. I just received this:
We went ahead and implemented the local alias. It's "raytrace",
which you can reach as raytrace@cpsc.ucalgary.ca or
calgary!raytrace. At the moment Dave Jevans and I (Bill Jones) are
the only subscribers.
3) Contact list only - You read comp.graphics and so do not need to
subscribe. However, you want to be on the list of people interested
in ray tracing. Another advantage of the contact list is that
people may send you mail - for instance, I wrote all the people on
the list and invited them to come to a get-together for ray tracers
at SIGGRAPH (more on this later). Everyone who is a subscriber is
also automatically on the contact list, but not vice versa. You
can also be listed as an individual on the contact list if you're a
group subscriber.
4) The silent majority - You don't need to be on any list, and are
happy just reading comp.graphics (or have hit the "n" key by now).
Currently almost everyone on the contact list is also a subscriber.
So, if you read comp.graphics fairly constantly and are on the subscriber list,
please tell me to put you on only the contact list. Clear as mud? Good. I'll
probably send the above to all people asking for subscriptions just to make
sure they know what's what, so don't be offended if you get one.
Whew! Well, with that done, I should mention that anyone can ask for
a copy of the contact list. If you want to subscribe to the RT News, hardcopy
edition, that's another coastline entirely - contact Andrew Glassner at
glassner.pa@xerox.com for details, as he's the editor of that one. The email
and hardcopy journals are mostly non-overlapping, so it's worth your while to
get both if you're seriously interested in the subject.
I can't afford to send out the back issues of the email RT News, but
they are available via anonymous FTP from:
cs.uoregon.edu - in /pub, also has lots of other ray tracing stuff, etc
freedom.graphics.cornell.edu - in /pub, also has Xcu menu creator
One other resource: I've been updating Paul Heckbert's ray tracing
bibliography while he's been busy at grad school. If you would like the latest
copy of this list, or have anything to add or change in it, just write me. I
also will be posting it to the two ftp sites realsoonnow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A SIGGRAPH Report, by Eric Haines
Another SIGGRAPH has come and gone, and I had a good time. My only
frustration was meeting many researchers for a minute and not getting to talk
with them. I noticed that although the ray tracing session had but three
papers, there were about nine others throughout the proceedings that used ray
tracing techniques in various ways. Ray tracing (and ray casting) as a
graphics tool has come into its own.
A few more ray tracers are out on the market, such as "Sculpt 3D" by
Byte by Byte for the Macintosh and Amiga and "LazerRays" by Lazerus. Hewlett
Packard is now shipping radiosity and ray tracing software bundled in with
every high-end graphics workstation. Intergraph has been getting a fair bit
of airplay out of their new ray tracing package, though I haven't gotten
details yet. Alias should be offering a ray tracer sometime soon.
Ray tracing researchers got together informally for a "ray tracing
roundtable" for an hour and some. Like last year, it was a large gathering,
with around 50 people attending. We went around the group, with each person
giving a brief introduction. I took an informal poll on a few questions,
Andrew noted that the ray tracing book was out, and asked for contributions to
"Graphics Gems" (more later), then we broke up and talked about this and that.
Given the size of the gathering, it was a bit frustrating: there are
all these people that I've wanted to meet and talk with in the same room, and
after half an hour they're all gone and I've spoke with only a few.
Basically, the roundtable meeting is too big for my tastes. One possibility
that you all might consider is to invite people in your own special interest
to a lunch or dinner. For example, I went to a pleasant "global illuminators"
lunch this SIGGRAPH, where there were about twelve people - a good size.
Oh, some nice books came out this SIGGRAPH. I'll plug the ray tracing
book later. Others worth note (i.e. I bought them) are _Mathematical Elements
for Computer Graphics, Second Edition_ by Rogers and Ad