https://github.com/miarolfe/accelerated-raytracing-testbed
A test platform for comparison of ray-tracing acceleration structures
https://github.com/miarolfe/accelerated-raytracing-testbed
acceleration-structure cpp cpp17 ray-tracing
Last synced: 4 months ago
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A test platform for comparison of ray-tracing acceleration structures
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/miarolfe/accelerated-raytracing-testbed
- Owner: miarolfe
- License: mit
- Created: 2025-12-31T20:29:33.000Z (6 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-01-20T22:48:34.000Z (5 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-01-21T08:38:17.869Z (5 months ago)
- Topics: acceleration-structure, cpp, cpp17, ray-tracing
- Language: C++
- Homepage:
- Size: 5.61 MB
- Stars: 2
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# ART (Accelerated Raytracing Testbed)
ART is a ray tracing testbed designed to benchmark and compare different spatial acceleration structures used in CPU ray tracing.
It features a full GUI for ease of use.
## Key features
- [x] Path tracing renderer
- [x] Uniform grid acceleration structure
- [x] Hierarchical uniform grid acceleration structure
- [X] Octree acceleration structure
- [X] BSP tree acceleration structure
- [X] k-d tree acceleration structure
- [x] Bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) acceleration structure
- [x] Basic time-based performance benchmarking
## Future work
- [ ] Comprehensive performance benchmarking
- [ ] Wide range of varied test scenarios
## System requirements
Linux and Windows are actively supported. This is a C++17 project; it is untested with older C++ standards and may not compile.
### Dependencies
Most dependencies are bundled in the `external/` directory:
- **Catch2** - Header-only C++ testing framework
- **imgui** - Immediate mode GUI library (GUI builds only)
- **SDL3** - Cross-platform multimedia library (GUI builds only)
- Windows: Bundled in `external/SDL3/`
- Linux: Install via package manager (e.g., `sudo apt install libsdl3-dev` or equivalent)
- **stb_image, stb_image_write** - Single-header image I/O libraries
## Building
### Build configurations
The project supports three build modes:
- **GUI** - Interactive graphical interface using SDL3 and imgui
- **Headless** - Command-line only, no GUI dependencies required
- **Test** - Command-line only, unit test suite
### Linux
```bash
./build.sh # Debug Headless build (default)
./build.sh debug # Debug Headless build
./build.sh debug_gui # Debug GUI build
./build.sh release # Release Headless build
./build.sh release_gui # Release GUI build
./build.sh test # Build test suite
```
### Windows
```
./generate_vs2022_solution.bat
```
Then open the generated solution and select the desired configuration:
- `Debug_GUI`
- `Debug_Headless`
- `Release_GUI`
- `Release_Headless`
- `Test`
### Output locations
- `bin/Debug_Headless/ART` - Debug headless executable
- `bin/Debug_GUI/ART` - Debug GUI executable
- `bin/Release_Headless/ART` - Optimized headless executable
- `bin/Release_GUI/ART` - Optimized GUI executable
- `bin/Test/ART` - Test suite executable
### Runtime dependencies (Linux)
On Linux, GUI executables require the SDL3 shared library to be installed. Install it via your package manager before running GUI builds:
- **Ubuntu/Debian**: `sudo apt install libsdl3`
- **Fedora**: `sudo dnf install SDL3`
## Quick start
```bash
git clone https://github.com/miarolfe/accelerated-raytracing-testbed
cd accelerated-raytracing-testbed
./build.sh release # Linux - use "generate_vs2022_solution.bat" on Windows
./bin/Release_Headless/ART
```
## Testing
### Running tests
```bash
./build.sh test # Build test configuration
./bin/Test/ART # Run test suite
```
### Continuous integration
GitHub Actions automatically runs tests on every push and pull request to the `main` branch. Tests execute on `ubuntu-latest` and `windows-latest`. Check the Actions tab for build logs and test results.
## License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
### Third-party licenses
- **Catch2** - Boost Software License 1.0 (see `external/Catch2/`)
- **imgui** - MIT License (see `external/imgui/`)
- **SDL3** - zlib License (see `external/SDL3/`)
- **stb_image, stb_image_write** - Public domain / MIT (see headers in `external/stb/`)
## Acknowledgments
- **Catch2** - [C++ testing framework](https://github.com/catchorg/Catch2)
- **imgui** - [Immediate mode graphical user interface](https://github.com/ocornut/imgui)
- **SDL3** - [Platform abstraction layer](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL)
- **stb_image, stb_image_write** - [Public domain image single-header libraries (stb_image, stb_image_write)](https://github.com/nothings/stb)
- This project, and my interest in ray tracing, were heavily inspired by the ["Ray Tracing in One Weekend" series](https://raytracing.github.io/). Check them out!
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