Wrapping It Up

As exhaustive as that list might have seemed, it was still just a sampling of what you can try. You can do so much more, like volumetric effects such as smoke, fog, clouds, and fire. Or maybe radiosity and photon mapping for more realistic lighting effects, or parallelization for faster rendering on multiprocessor machines. You’re never truly done, but that’s the wonderful thing about projects like this!

The rest is up to you. Pursue the features that excite you most. Explore your own interests. Make this ray tracer your own. But most important of all: have fun!