Real-Time Non-Euclidean Ray-tracer Demo

Demonstration of a real-time non-euclidean ray-tracer, with a more complex scene. Download Demo/Code: github.com/rameshvarun/Dygra/...
Music is "Biology Slides" by Bleak House, from the Free Music Archive - freemusicarchive.org/music/Ble...

[@varunprime]

This video gets an influx of views now and then due to KZbin's algorithm. I made this when I was in high school and didn't really know what I was doing. I found that my approach didn't scale to more complex scenes and that it worked inconsistently across graphics cards. I'm not up to date with the current state of GPU programming - I think someone who is could make a much better version. The code and last release are available for download, for anyone who wants to look at and improve on it.

[@Dylank001]

I feel special that I found this 3 hour old comment from the uploader in a 7 year old video

[@fyiispy8014]

Like what’s the chances

[@Dylank001]

FYI Ispy ikr XD

[@lazprayogha]

Duuuude. You're a legend.

[@redpepper74]

FYI Ispy There are no coincidences with the KZbin algorithm

[@Richi_Boi]

Dude lived in 2019

[@linuxterm7622]

that makes no sense

[@zentrocs]

Actually no. Raytracing is the most well known algorithm and it dates back to the 1969. Just because a multi - billion company advertises their "new" raytracing capabilities , it does not mean they invented it. You are probably just starting now on math in school. You'll learn about raytracing when you get to highschool.

[@skyr3x]

@@zentrocs youre the reason why people hate anime profile pictures

[@princey_06]

Bruh ray tracing was used in the game Doom, which is old (but still classic), its pretty easy to learn

[@cavegame2304]

Why yes, he did live in 2019, like everyone else.

[@Wimbleknob]

Oh, so now I can finally understand what Lovecraft meant when he described stuff as having non-Euclidean geometry like five hundred times in his short stories.

[@dutchdykefinger]

i guess the guys who made quake did a decent job with their long ass abstract hallways it may not compress space, but the level design is weird as shit nonetheless, and you can just bump up the field of view to insane amounts make it even weirder :D

[@eryxyre]

This video uses the term "non-Euclidean" incorrectly; it is not clear what Lovecraft meant, but probably something close to the actual meaning. Look e.g. at some videos linked here: medium.com/@ZenoRogue/non-euclidean-geometry-and-games-fb46989320d4

[@VaradMahashabde]

Yeah well lovecraft didn't actually understand what non-euclidean geometry meant, he just used the term to emphasis how strange and otherworldly the underwater ruins were

[@ZenoRogue]

Actually Lovecraft mentioned "non-Euclidean" just twice.

[@davidl3743]

what would be pretty cool would to be a game about controlling space around you.

[@JorgetePanete]

David l would be* a game

[@drrhaid]

Try AntiChamber

[@iSyriux]

like the guy in doctor strange

[@pianoraves]

Just like Control One of the first games to use real time raytracing Greetings from the frickin future

[@davidkonevky7372]

Play hyper bolica

[@culpritdesign]

This would be such an awesome game.

[@mailliw94]

antichamber uses these concepts.

[@minindoalt]

Portal uses portals, _and_ its sequel allows linked_portal-doors in the Source Engine, making P2's branch another non-euclidian game engine. If you learn how to use hammer it's pretty fun to play around with them.

[@charliedulol]

you mean engine

[@igorthelight]

Hello from the future where Ray Tracing is popular and even Minecraft has it :-)

[@ernahuskofan3616]

with mods yes

[@ernahuskofan3616]

@@quax8923 how tf would I have known bro

[@masondipperpines5009]

@@ernahuskofan3616 LIAR

[@hwqh]

Non-Euclidean objects have always caught my interest, I feel like making a project with nothing but stuff that doesn’t and shouldn’t make sense

[@varunprime]

A Real-Time Non-Euclidean Ray-tracer.

[@multiseiberpurz8981]

uihm? where did i get this demo or even more... the tech spechs... the CODE!!!!

[@jdnoidea]

Varun Ramesh cool tech! The stretched tunnels are awesome.. What's the bg music as well? :p

[@TommyGuy1111]

nice comment

[@deanvangreunen6457]

github.com/DeanVanGreunen/Dygra

[@theairaccumulator7144]

Ray tracing will take so much computation i dont know how you did this efficiently

[@nicolashinds3415]

Man I love the microphone on this! Never change it!

[@beat461]

I'm suprised by the amount of videos there are of this concept. The first time I saw this concept I thought it was really unique but to be honest I've now seen a bunch of videos that implement this in various ways, in different engines. I wonder why I haven't seen many games that use this kind of cool space warping.

[@Chaaaaaaaalie]

Okay, I want one 3D printed :)

[@ShevkoMore]

Finally, an (probably) actual non-Euclidean space!

[@yaenirmorsa6710]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXalYmSGhp54pZo this is one by codeparade which seems to be a more *refurbished* version of this and goes a bit more in depth

[@ShevkoMore]

This is the one i actually came from, and it involves separate spaces. This one uses ray speed to change it. My definition of a done non-Euclidean space: you should be able to remove walls and still make sense (as this sphere), and it should be possible to be included not as a designated space (imagine a nebula, but it's distorted space).

[@guitarer99]

This is so interesting! Looking forward to future developments

[@patrickromero5739]

this is awesome! I'm sure there are a lot of people (myself included) who would love to see the source code when it's ready

[@anderson-kj3zs]

i love this stuff. i always experience this kind of distortion in my dreams. i finally figured out what to call it!

[@masterxilo]

Very nice. Not only great maths and programming, but creative too!

[@obamallama4104]

Oh god the volume

[@mikestechreviews2253]

this is really cool, i'd love to try using this in the project im working on

[@Mark73]

Damn. Seven years ago. Why has something like this not shown up in a game yet?

[@Nae_Ayy]

yo I had headphones in when I clicked this video why must you murder mine ears

[@MrOccamsChainsaw]

That's not a portal. It's a wormhole. This could be a powerful way to teach relativity with a game.

[@MrGreatDane2]

A wormhole is way more then some teleporting device you know

[@Gooberpatrol66]

gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/

[@JorgetePanete]

lolslayer than*

[@JorgetePanete]

lolslayer you forgot the question mark

[@SidneyJupiter]

They are the same thing with a different name

[@Taikina]

these are very nice. the world needs all kinds of games with this manipulated space time as a gimmick. man, so cool

[@SlimbTheSlime]

Never knew that there was such a thing as real-time raytracers that have such a large screen size.

[@varunprime]

+Lawn Care The trick is that it runs on the GPU so each pixel is rendered in parallel. Modern games use real-time GPU raytracing in the form of a technique called screen space reflection.

[@gregoryberrycone]

amazing, reminds me of the impossible layout of the overlook hotel in the kubrick shining.

[@diegomorones-castillo2225]

To anyone playing The Stanley Parable, this helps

[@praveensharma9893]

Diego Morones-Castillo wut how Oh... Okay.

[@Ardkun00]

Or Antichamber. However, this project uses another and more non-euclidean method.

[@XxMeTFieldxX]

Nnniiiiice!! Awesome work man!!

[@indjev99]

Make a TARDIS.

[@mihailazar2487]

it's funny i was thinking the same thing

[@JunebugGaming]

That was my first thought

[@alemonkiki]

Yeah, it would be bigger on the inside and able to travel through time and space! Now the show is science non-fiction.

[@harmony.enforcer]

I really thought I was the only one who had the idea

[@nintendoblood4835]

This was my first thought lol

[@varunprime]

This version of the rendering engine only supports aberrations, but I'm rewriting it to make something like hyperbolic or elliptical geometry easier - what's nice is the math doesn't change significantly for either of those.

[@meta_name]

This is wonderful

[@bboysil]

Great stuff. keep up the good work

[@Dolberggames]

Slowing down the player and stretching the shadows is a genius and simple, there is a TV show called doctor who where there is a spaceship that looks like a simple 1960's police box(it is in the same size of a British phone booth) but the space ship is actually bigger on the inside, there is a game called gmod that has a mod that puts that ship in the game(when you open the doors you can see it is bigger on the onside) , but the way that it is used is just portals(I think), but your solution is is brilliant, making the box actually look like it's bigger on the inside.

[@audriclemmons4479]

Literally everyone knows what the TARDIS is

[@CHKNSkratch]

So like one of those space engines where it shrinks space in front of you and lengthens it behind you

[@nanish_8290]

Wait this vid uploaded 7 years ago!? This guy saw the future

[@madscientistshusta]

this will be essential when someone tries to recreate the ancient city of R'yleh in a proper C'thulu game.

[@Ali107]

RTX ON

[@DodgeeSoftware]

Incredible! Liked and Subscribed

[@OysterWallace]

this is really cool

[@alexdukhan]

Dude this looks amazing! I can just imagine how amazing this would be as a Blender plug-in! I love the concept bro, and can't wait to see the full thing fleshed out!

[@NeoAxiom]

It's funny because a custom portal map is how I discovered a lot of this non euclidean stuff.

[@VGamingJunkieVT]

The Stanley Parable did something like this by simply using portals, camera textures that see into the long room that's actually in a different place. It's like the portals on, well, Portal. XD

[@moxi299]

No The stanley Parable is not based on raytracing, for their solution they just disable and enable the visible of the rooms to achieve your deception ^^

[@VGamingJunkieVT]

moxi299 Are we talking about the same thing? The Follow The Line part where you're in a file cabinet office and the center of one area is a long hallway even though it appears to just be file cabinet length on the outside? Could have sworn that used portal cameras to appear as though it's in the same space even though the actual room is elsewhere, must like how when you make portals on Portal. The area on the other portal appears to be in front of your eyes but it's just a camera texture.

[@moxi299]

Perhaps i have never reached this point in the Game ;D

[@nameguy101]

+MetroidJunkie2007 In fact, The Stanley Parable actually uses portals, because it's a standalone mod of Portal 2.

[@VGamingJunkieVT]

Nameguy Actually, the Stanley Parable started out as a Half-Life 2 mod and then was made from scratch, them sharing the same engine doesn't mean it was modded from it. That's like saying every game that used the Unreal 3 engine is a mod of Gears of War.

[@zxvadcsfbh]

Holy shit. I really hope this gets used in a foundational mechanic to a first person game some time!

[@VcSaJen]

Reminded me of "Non Euclidean GPU Ray Tracing Test", published by CNLohr in 2011.

[@Idominusrex]

This....is.....AWESOME!!!!!!

[@KriechenderHouden]

Nice work

[@TimSlee1]

Looks like what postmodern architecture could be.

[@cole1714]

uhhhhh postmodern architecture is like an actual extant movement...that can, and does, exist in our physical world...unlike non-euclidean architecture

[@MrCoolioto]

This isn't really non-euclidean, it just simulates it in specific areas. Still really awesome.

[@ivorystinkershack3422]

Keep it up bro!

[@ShrubRustle]

you should get in touch with the Antichamber devs, they might have some ideas for a collaboration with this.

[@clearlyrebecca]

Mindbending!

[@phearup]

stop blowing my mind mannnnn

[@samalknudsen6022]

This reminds me of antichamber

[@ronniemillsap]

cool i wanna play when done!

[@rdococ]

This is epic.

[@mercuryrreveal4871]

Mind blowing

[@the_primal_instinct]

This is great for a some sort of phantasy quest or a horror game.

[@DanNobles]

Very cool video. Would it be possible to use techniques like you used here to simulate relativistic effects such as time dilation or space curvature?

[@bjorksmom3028]

this is so fucking cool

[@Mimirai]

Ray tracer? nice!

[@AWoh51EIbvd]

This is most amazing stuff I ever seen in the 3D engines. Totaly love it! Variant of 4D reality.

[@5hape5hift3r]

the spherical portals you can simulate a zero length wormhole just by adding a reflective distortion to the outgoing rays

[@5hape5hift3r]

just a matter of adding a reflect to the rays

[@TheSkammander]

I saw something like this from The Stanley Parable! Super cool!

[@ianboswell]

nice stuff

[@coopergates9680]

Varun Ramesh You're going to do a half-space model or a ball model of H^3 (3D hyperbolic space, a constant negative curvature)? That would be a lot more interesting than simple expansion or compression of space; I might prefer the half-space model because hyperbolic straight lines either translate to lines or semicircles in the model, although measuring a distance still has a complicated operation. At least angles and rotation are conserved. H^3 is quite different because there are infinitely many parallel lines to a given line, and the space always curves away from itself. You can fit three regular heptagons or octagons to a vertex in the hyperbolic plane (in Euclidean space you can not), and dodecahedra and icosahedra can tile hyperbolic three-space in ways that would normally seem impossible.

[@lngyki]

Can we start a gofundme to get this man a proper mic

[@solanofelicio]

Is it possible to have an algorithm capable of rendering a space with any geometry? Or is it just hard?

[@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii]

It is very simple. The catch is that it's computationally costly. Voxel rendering represents the world only with individual points in space. Make the points small enough and you can represent anything. Make them too big and you have an awful kiddie game. Most if not all rendering techniques can represent any geometry by making it's smallest visible element equivalent to a voxel. Usually it's more effective to do an approximation of any geometry, ie a sphere is made up of a lot of very small flat planes.

[@solanofelicio]

JJ K I think I may not have made myself clear. I'm talking about the geometry (and topology) of the *space* in which your player is, not the geometry of objects in it. For instance, a curved space would bend light passing through it and generate distorted-looking pictures. A space with a topological connection between distant points (kind of like a wormhole) would make light travel from one end to another instantly (like what's simulated by the portals in the video). A three-dimensional space that is connected to itself in three axis (a topological 3-dimensional analogy to the torus) would look like an infinite rectangular grid of your objects, except the images of the distant ones would be late, effectively giving you a way to look into your own past in the same manner we look to the stars and see their past. I'm asking if one could conceivably input any 3-dimensional space (smooth manifold?) with any topology, put some objects and a camera in it, and get out a 2-dimensional image from this hypothetical raytracer. Is that even possible in principle? EDIT: typo

[@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii]

***** That's pretty much what raytracing does. Usually the rays travel in a linear path. Instead of doing linear interpolation for the ray vector you would have to apply a 3D equation to compute the path of the rays to simulate *any* space. That's what this video is showing when the ray follow a spherical path producing visual distortion. However I think it would be much more simple to deform the geometry to get the same effect than coming up with the ray path equations producing the desired effect.

[@CGoody564]

JJ K deforming geometry to give the impression of different physical properties is surely easier... But does it prove anything other than we are easily tricked by visuals? It would be much more impressive if the space were designed to inherently have these properties applied to anything within it. I'm not saying it is viable in any way, but it's interesting to think about.

[@wil-fri]

for Interestellar they modified the raytracing motor to simulate the gravity distortion on the light

[@SpicyMelonYT]

Very cool

[@jimbonuetrin2593]

Have you thought about keeping the portals and apparitions transparent but giving them a slight colored tint to make them easier to spot from a distance?

[@zamundaaa776]

very cool

[@TanyaSapienVintage]

3 years ago....did anything ever come of this? I'm suddenly curious.

[@manfrom3004]

Awesome! Rather than just local distortions, have you done any full-scale ones, e.g. a whole map in hyperbolic geometry?

[@cis_ash]

I can see this becoming a pretty cool puzzle game or an interractive art piece. Also, can you use traditional 3d models to create levels?

[@JohnVance]

Some House of Leaves shit right here.

[@titan9706]

Could you make a sphere where space gets more stretched and eventually infinitely stretched the closer it is to the center, essentially creating a black hole?

[@JEAthePrince]

Minecraft should make a non-euclidean update on the maps

[@almostatheist]

Hey man do you think it’s possible to use your program to make the Star trails work on a flat surface?

[@saultube44]

Could this be used for a preview of Raytracers like POV-Ray, BLender, Lightwave 3D?

[@mihailazar2487]

also, could you show how you can propel an object by using those compression spheres in front and an expansion sphere behind , i've always had trouble visualising WARP DRIVE even on a flat plane ...

[@johngddr5288]

me tooo.....

[@willis936]

I know this isn’t exactly what you’re after but if you just want the “entering warp drive” visual affect you can do that by simply adjusting the camera frustum in a technique similar to film “dolly zoom”. This approximates what it would be like to be accelerated close to the speed of light. When you got very close to the speed of light your field of view would be nearly 360 degrees. I think you’re talking about warp drives that in principle use relativity are kind of like surfing a gravity wave. They’re cool to think about but scaling makes them impractical for sending anything other than very small objects.

[@dummdank5303]

This reminds me about how the first doom game wasn't 3d but a non-euclidean ray-tracer shooter game.

[@dummdank5303]

EDIT: But it wasn't doom which used ray-tracing it was frankenstein something (i forgot its name).

[@Romejanic]

Doom was a rayCASTER, not a raytracer. It fakes 3D by casting one ray per vertical column, Ray tracing achieves 3D by intersecting the way of each pixel.

[@ChaosNe0]

It looks very nice. Is there auf download for the shader?

[@jonathanward7216]

Is there any engine that creates a non-euclidean space without illusions? I feel it would break if you were to stand on the outside of a door; but put an object like a ball through the door half-way. Would the object stretch so the longer hallway makes the object appear just as long from your rendered perspective (distorted) or would it bounce along the longer hallway like normal. PS: by illusions I mean teleports through portals, stretching rays and slowing movement

[@happyfakeboulder644]

When I ran it on my computer, it turned the screen blank white except for an oddly-moving, enlarged cursor, complicated to get out of. I put it at the minimum resolution and raymarching I have no proper graphics card (probably the problem but idk and if it is you should detect it and cancel running the program)

[@MrGreatDane2]

Isn't there any way that you can import triangle meshes into this program?

[@Midiatize]

nice!! what about non-euclidean time travel portals? like seeing 20 seconds in the past looking through a portal

[@THE_ONLY_REAL_WAFFLE]

Nice 👍

[@Taras195]

So, in Jan of 2019, I ask you: has it moved further than this demo?

[@lariacg]

What happened? Is this project abandoned? It looks so amazing :(

[@infatum9]

My brain broke down from being unable to perceive this. =)

[@nebulousGemini]

>Non-Euclidean Ok, I will call bugs in my raytracer a 'non-euclidean' stuff now, too.

[@nebulousGemini]

***** Tell that to our QA

[@CGoody564]

Kinky Bastard "A software bug is an error, flaw, failure or fault in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways" If the program was designed to specifically produce these expected results, then they are in fact not bugs. Your QA has an inherently and fundamentally flawed idea of what a bug is. This would only be considered a bug if the expected result were a realistic representation of euclidean space or a non-euclidean space with properties different than what is being rendered. If the intended result is in fact a representation of a space that is non-euclidean with these specific properties, then the program is performing as designed and thus is performing correctly.

[@totallynotaliar9912]

Cory Goodman I was just about to say something to the same effect. Good job, you did a much better job at it than I would've.

[@fkknsikk]

Grand Theft Auto is a fantastic example of this.

[@Ardkun00]

Greentexting outside of imageboards looks weird.

[@PMH19872003Sprung]

Fun fact: This is your after life world, before be reborn again.

[@635574]

But it bemds the shadow and doesnt begin right at the edge, I noticed it wasnt normal from that.

[@dharmapalkhelkar7537]

Gajab

[@alexglass3613]

Not just ray tracing. But mind-bending awesomeness! Very cool stuff. You could always try to steal Prey 2 and finish it using this for its puzzles. Any chances Xbox One/PS4 can run your renderer in real time?

[@Templarfreak]

You could use the portals to instead of using the rendering to make a tunnel appear to be stretched and slow the player down to feel like it's longer on the inside, use the portal to take them to an actual spot that is stretched.

[@varunprime]

This is essentially what games like Antichamber and The Stanley Parable do - they use render to texture portals that take you to another area in the level. One thing that can only be done with raytracing is stretching a region of space without any boundaries like walls. The newer demo video that I have shows a courtyard that is faster to go around than to go through.

[@Templarfreak]

I just don't entirely like the idea of slowing down the player and stretching the drawing. It's only really an illusion. For all intents and purposes the space is normal, and there would also be so many things you'd have to account for in order to make it seem more right: Jump height would also have to be adjusted. Acceleration and deceleration. Any kind of speed bonuses the player may have. It's a binary cut in and cut off point instead of a smooth transition, which could have untold effects on all kinds of systems and ideas and may be visible depending on the situation (like at 2:25, you can clearly see the movement jar back to normal speed), but you can't really make it slowly transition in and out either as that would have an affect on the illusion. It would just be better if you could avoid that entirely. Anything that may need to keep track of the player's speed for some mechanics would also have to take into account they are being slowed or sped up in areas like these. All of this would also have to be considered and attuned on all other entities as well. For instance, if you slow down some monster's movement speed than their animation could get drastically desynced with their speed, making them appear to be sliding their feet or across the ground (depending on if they are too slow or too fast for the animation). That's just to name a few problems, there are tons of others I'm not thinking of or forgetting. It would just be better to actually be able to warp the real space, IMO.

[@althedude7730]

This waa probably a hell to program and make it run efficiently, but damn the game possibilities.....

[@varunprime]

+Theis Dramon In the years since, games have started to use real-time raytracing in the form of a technique called screen space reflection. It's why reflections in games like the new Battlefront look so good.

[@althedude7730]

Varun Ramesh yes I know but I was talking about the added part, you could make an extremely realistic spa e game using those techniques, and the techniques are mostly used for light but you could use them for attacks, movement, reflecting of bullets,.... the possibilities dude...

[@MichaJabczynski]

Whoa! Can you share the code?

[@CGoody564]

So basically, the circular portals are simply objects in the environment that contain their own environment that can be entered? Or am I mistaken?

[@beetheimmortal]

So, when is it coming out? It's been so long.

[@BonesYouTube]

it dosen't support shader how i start the game

[@sean..L]

So time is also stretched in non-euclidian space?

[@TimothyChapman]

Can the scene be rendered without the objects being stretched at the edges or corners?

[@varunprime]

Yes, I believe the stretching is due to an inappropriately high field-of-view.