RENDERING PROCESS:

• Introduction
• Principles
• World structure
• Projection
• Finding walls
• Horizontal intersections
• Vertical intersections

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Glossary
  
• Downloads
  
• Links
  

INTRODUCTION:
This is my contribution to the 'Net. It's aimed at people wishing to enter the world of 3D programming without wanting to delve deeply into polygons, portals, BSPs, etc. The whole site covers a simplistic rendering technique called raycasting. Raycasting is an interesting and gentle introduction to 3D/algorithmic programming, so long as you're not after a rip-roaringly fast, high-tech engine to compete with something like Quake. If so, then this place isn't for you.

These pages will look at theory behind raycasting and how to use it to implement a first-person 3D engine, similar to id's Wolfenstein 3D.

WHAT DO I NEED ?
The only thing you really need to be familiar with is basic trigonometry and the Pythagorean theorem (right-angled triangles). The raycasting algorithm is centred around those two areas of maths. They're not particularly difficult to understand, which makes raycasting a breeze (even for me :) ! Anyway, let's get started.

NOTICES:
This site went into a frozen state, and due to the number of hits (and also some words of encouragement :) I've been getting, I've decided it's time to dust it off and start work again (I didn't even have a local copy of it anymore...) Thankyou all for your interest; now let's see how long I keep going this time :)

As with most places on the 'net, this site is heavily

so please be patient and check for updates (that means you'll have to keep coming back :)

^* TNT kindly damaged our web server in transit, which is the reason why my site was down for a few days at the end of October, 2000. I guess the A4-sized label 'FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE' wasn't enough...

If you've got any suggestions, questions, corrections or whatever, just e-mail me at pete@restall.net. I'd really appreciate some constructive feedback.