Can anyone either compare and contrast, explain, or point me to a concise resource where they cover scanline vs raytrace rendering?

Attached Link: Rendering techniques

actually,everyone should go and read this,it goes over everything related to rendering.Incuding RayTrace vs Scanline.

First line: "For many people, rendering means one thing: waiting." LOL! I'm off to read - THX

That article is good, but seems to be rather old. They say "The next release of LightWave will also be the first to feature a radiosity renderer that can be set up in such a way that scenes can be animated (a first)." As we know now, there are renderers out there with irradience mapping and photon mapping that make animation with accurate radiosity faster than ever.

The page is stamped April 24, 2000. So keep in mind many advances have taken place in the rendering genre since that was written. But the same principals to how each rendering type works still applies. The only difference is that hybrid renderers have become far more advanced since then, and Global Illumination/radiosity render times have been cut dramatically from just a few years ago.

There are a new generation of raytrace engines out there like Brazil and Vray that are so good, they're probably going to find a permanant home in major studio pipelines in the not to distant future. Like Mental Ray, they're already being used for serious production purposes. :-)

Message edited on: 06/26/2004 23:18

true true,just a good idea on the main inner workings and what they are based off.

I think anyone making 3d images should be forced to have a go with an old fashioned raytracer like POVRay! define your scene using primitive commands and careful math, then raytrace......