Workshop: Ray Tracing in One Hour

In this workshop, you will implement a non-physically based path tracer that runs on your graphics card in real time.

The final result of the workshop should look similar to the image below:

While the path tracer will not be physically based, its implementation will include a proper Monte Carlo estimator to help evaluate the light transport equation.
The provided starting code is written in a way that allows you to further expand on the material presented in the workshop. Possible extensions include:

• Adding new shapes
• Implementing physically correct specular reflections using different BRDFs
• Experimenting with advanced sampling or lighting models

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Building and Running the Program

Three requirements must be met before you can run the application:

1. Your GPU (either discrete or integrated) must support Vulkan 1.3.
   → Read more here
2. You must have Python installed.
   → Verify by running python -v in your terminal.
3. You must download the Slang compiler.

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Getting Started

Create a folder anywhere on your computer — this will be the workspace where you store everything related to this workshop.

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Downloading the Slang Compiler

1. Download the Slang compiler for your operating system from the official Slang release page.
2. Extract the downloaded zip file, preferably to the same folder where you will later extract the workshop executables.

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Downloading the Workshop Executable

To run the application, you need to download the precompiled executables I have prepared for you.

1. Navigate to the release page of this repository and download the build-xxx archive for your operating system.
2. Extract the downloaded zip file to the folder you created earlier.
3. Verify that the program is running correctly by double-clicking the executable RaytracingInOneHour, or by running one of the following commands in your terminal:

# For Linux
./RaytracingInOneHour

# For Windows
RaytracingInOneHour

Wait a bit, and then a window should open where you will see the following:

That’s it!

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Building from Source (for hardcore people)

For advanced users, you can also build this application from source.
All libraries are statically linked and compiled from source, including the Vulkan headers.
The project uses Volk to provide a lightweight and efficient Vulkan loader that automatically handles function pointer management and simplifies Vulkan initialization.

Building from source gives you full control over the renderering engine located in RenderingEngine.h/cpp including adding new UI elements or more advanced usage of Vulkan.

1. recursinvly clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/wpsimon09/Ray-Tracing-In-One-Hour.git --recursive

2. create build folder

mkdir build
cd build

3. configure cmake

Linux

cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

Windows

cmake .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchain-windows.cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

4. build

cmake --build . --config Release -j 14