rt :: n-dimensional raytracer April 6th, 2009
 

holecube

The picture at the top of the page is a trace of a 4-dimensional cube with a cylinder cut out of each major axis.

Here is a sample of the objects and textures that are possible with this raytracer. This is a slice from a trace of a four-dimensional scene. Here is the whole image and the source file that generated it.

all-small

From left to right, these are:

  • a (0,4)-cylinder (cube)
  • a (2,4)-cylinder
  • a (3,4)-cylinder
  • a (4,4)-cylinder (hypersphere)
  • a duo-circle
  • a quadratic surface (intersected with a box)
  • a half-space (intersected with a box)
  • a simplex
  • a hypercube (8-cell)
  • a hyperoctahedron (16-cell)
  • a 24-cell
  • a 120-cell
  • a 600-cell
  • a union of a cube and a sphere
  • the intersection of a cube and a sphere
  • the intersection of a cube and the complement of a sphere
  • an extrusion of a hexagon into 4-d
  • a refracting half-sphere over a striped box
  • a (3-4)-cylinder that is colored by tracing back into this same scene

Here, a (k,n)-cylinder means an n-dimensional cylinder where k of the dimensions are restricted by the sum of their squares being less than or equal to the square of the radius. The remaining (n-k) dimensions are
independently clipped.

Feedback of any sort is welcome to rt@nklein.com

I am in the process of moving older data over to the new website. In the meantime, please refer to old.nklein.com for a more robust set of sample images.