Illustrating Physics with Ray-Traced Computer Graphics

Thomas J. Bensky, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

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This article may be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2336141.

Copyright © 2006 American Association of Physics Teachers. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Abstract

This paper provides a brief introduction to using ray-traced computer graphics for creating illustrations to be used in physics teaching. The article focuses on Povray, a freely available ray-tracing software program. We have found that a ray-traced illustration produced with this software provides a final-image quality that is far superior to hand-drawn illustrations and those produced using standard click-and-draw computer drawing software. Techniques for illustrating time-dependent scenarios are discussed as well.