4 ms·

I used to be active in computer graphics. Great to see an article by Whitted himself. A bit of trivia: I think _the_ pioneer in the field of ray-tracing is Albr

I used to be active in computer graphics. Great to see an article by Whitted himself. A bit of trivia: I think _the_ pioneer in the field of ray-tracing is Albrecht Dürer [1] who ray traced by hand in the 16th century. [1]: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Man-drawing-a-lute-by-Albrecht-Duerer-1525-In-this-drawing-Duerer-illustrates-a_fig16_312605716 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Man-drawing-a-lute-by-Al...

dahart 8y ago
That immediately reminded me of "Tim's Vermeer", have you seen it? Software guy Tim hypothesizes that Vermeer was tracing rays using an optical setup without strings, maybe vaguely similar to Dürer's. He sets out to recreate the device and Vermeer's painting's. It's a wonderful project.
- rollulus 8y ago
  I haven't seen it, but I just watched the trailer. Looks like an awesome documentary, thanks!
brobdingnagians 8y ago
It always amazes me how things we think of as high-tech modern innovations were often known by people a long time ago. There have always been ingenious people, and sometimes they achieved things long before I would have thought it possible. Archimedes almost invented calculus thousands of years ago, and the Greeks knew the distance to the moon and sun[1]. A little ingenuity can figure something out from simple principles; always a reminder that each person in history were living, breathing, thinking people as real as you and I, with a unique viewpoint and achievements. 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Sizes_and_Distances_(Aristarchus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Sizes_and_Distances_(Ar...]
Keyframe 8y ago
This is both funny and awful at the same time. I've been in graphics forever, and his name alone demands respect. He's so much of a corner stone, since forever, that it never occurred to me that the guy might still be alive, let alone working at Nvidia Research! Nvidia Research seems to have scooped up all of the legends.

dahart 8y ago

That immediately reminded me of "Tim's Vermeer", have you seen it? Software guy Tim hypothesizes that Vermeer was tracing rays using an optical setup without strings, maybe vaguely similar to Dürer's. He sets out to recreate the device and Vermeer's painting's. It's a wonderful project.

rollulus 8y ago
I haven't seen it, but I just watched the trailer. Looks like an awesome documentary, thanks!

brobdingnagians 8y ago

It always amazes me how things we think of as high-tech modern innovations were often known by people a long time ago. There have always been ingenious people, and sometimes they achieved things long before I would have thought it possible. Archimedes almost invented calculus thousands of years ago, and the Greeks knew the distance to the moon and sun[1]. A little ingenuity can figure something out from simple principles; always a reminder that each person in history were living, breathing, thinking people as real as you and I, with a unique viewpoint and achievements. 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Sizes_and_Distances_(Aristarchus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Sizes_and_Distances_(Ar...]

Keyframe 8y ago

This is both funny and awful at the same time. I've been in graphics forever, and his name alone demands respect. He's so much of a corner stone, since forever, that it never occurred to me that the guy might still be alive, let alone working at Nvidia Research! Nvidia Research seems to have scooped up all of the legends.