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Nonlinear ray tracing: Visualizing strange worlds

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Abstract

Nonlinear ray tracing is investigated in this work. Sources of nonlinearity such as gravity centers, gravity lines, chaotic dynamical systems, and parametric curved rays are discussed. Curved rays are represented either iteratively or hierarchically. Algorithms for testing whether a curved ray and a 3D object intersect are presented. Sample images of a test implementation show the feasibility of the approach. Applications of nonlinear ray tracing are the visualization of relativistic effects, visualization of the geometric behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems, visualization of the movement of charged particles in a force field (e.g., electron movement), virtual reality, and arts.

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Gröller, E. Nonlinear ray tracing: Visualizing strange worlds. The Visual Computer 11, 263–274 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01901044

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