1

In regards to accurate ray tracing in Blender, I want to find (ideally open source) software that can accurately simulate reflection of focused laser light from a metallic surface, using forward ray tracing, as part of my research. In particular, I would like to accurately simulate caustics. Is this possible in Blender using Cycles? Or do I have to use a different rendering engine?

Thanks in advance

tjsmert44
  • 11
  • 1
  • The simple answer is: no, it's not the best for simulating what you have in mind, and it uses backward ray tracing, not forward ray tracing. – Gordon Brinkmann Jul 01 '21 at 09:26
  • See https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/91223/29586 and related answers. The linked one is using OSL to produce a render based on the reflective caustics. However, the 'accepted' answer is using Luxrender and could provide useful information. – Rich Sedman Jul 01 '21 at 22:13

1 Answers1

2

Check out https://luxcorerender.org/

It's much better suited than Cycles when it comes to caustics and realistic light behavior. Also, it's open source and has got a rather neat blender exporter, so you should be able to use it without too much hassle!

haarigertroll
  • 1,157
  • 7
  • 12