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Looking for: random raytracing program (awful.systems)

submitted 11 months ago by gerikson@awful.systems to c/notawfultech@awful.systems

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Years ago (we're talking decades) I ran into a small program that randomly generated raytraced images (think transparent orbs, lens flares, reflection etc), suitable for saving as wallpapers. It was a C/C++ program that ran on Linux. I've long since lost the name and the source code, and I wonder if there's anything like that out there now?

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[–] pja@awful.systems 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

https://www.rayrender.net/ ?

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 3 points 11 months ago

Looks interesting, but that's also not what I'm looking for. Thanks though!

[–] Uberflussig@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Could it perhaps have been Bryce 3D?

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 3 points 11 months ago

No, this was (from memory) a console application only. You specified output size, maybe a couple seed values, and the process after that was random.

[–] CryptoKitten@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I also thought it would be povray as this is what I was using on linux over two decades ago. Maybe this list could help you:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ray_tracing_software