ABOUT

This is a toy real-time path-tracer developed in Unity. A number of C# scripts control the main application, whilst a compute shader written in HLSL renders frames. This was originally created for the Advanced Games Engineering module I did at university, but has been adapted for public release.

The application currently contains four scenes which can be explored and rendered in real-time. As the camera moves, noise appears on the screen. By keeping the camera stationary, the frames converge to give a better image. The application is capable of rendering four different materials - Lambertian, metallic, dielectric, and emissive - which alter how rays are reflected and refracted.

This toy application does not require DX12 RTX enabled GPUs and should work with DX11 GPUs. However, performance will vary for different GPUs. If performance is an issue,  try reducing the resolution from the main menu.

The application is contained in a zip file, which can be downloaded below. Feel free to leave a message or issue in the comments below. 

CONTROLS

The controls for the application are detailed as follows:

MOVEMENT AND CAMERA

Input	Action
W	Moves in the direction that the camera is facing
S	Moves away from the direction the camera is facing
A	Strafe left
D	Strafe right
Mouse	Change where the camera is looking

SKY COLOUR

Input	Action
F1	Enable a blue sky
F2	Enable a night sky
F3	Enable a vaporwave sky
F4	Enable a  textured sky

OTHER CONTROLS

Input	Action
K	Reduce the ray bounce limit by 1
L	Increase the ray bounce limit by 1
N	Enable denoising (enabled by default)
M	Disable denoising
Escape	Return to the main menu

FUTURE WORK

Although this is a toy application, there is still further work to carry out.  These include:

• Improvements to performance
• Adding volumetric fog effects
• Adding textures
• Adding more materials
• Adding physically-based rendering techniques

VERSION HISTORY

Date	Description	Version
21/05/21	First public release	1.0