3D Software Renderer

My 3D software renderer was written in C++ and is capable of displaying 3D models loaded from id Software’s .md2 format. It utilizes the GDI+ graphics library to set pixels on the screen, but is otherwise entirely custom code. Early implementation details can be found here.

Key Features

3D Transformations Models loaded from.md2 files can be translated, rotated and scaled in 3D space. The camera can also be translated and rotated in real-time.

Back-face Culling Only visible polygon’s are rendered. Visibility is determined by checking the dot product of a polygon’s surface normal with the vector from the camera to that polygon for negativity.

Depth Sorting A basic implementation of the Painter’s algorithm ensures that those polygons furthest from the camera are rendered first, while those nearest are drawn last and on top of everything else.

Custom Flat Shading The FillPolygon() routine provided by GDI+ has been replaced by a custom routine that allows each pixel on the screen to be set separately using GDI+’s SetPixel().

Gouraud Shading Shading/lighting is computed by interpolating between vertices with Gouraud shading. This is less accurate and less computationally-intensive than per-pixel lighting (as in Phong shading) but far more aesthetically appealing than flat shading.

Lighting Multiple ambient, directional and point lights are all implemented with diffuse reflection. Spot lights and specular reflection were partially implemented (but not demoed).

Texturing MD2 models that include a corresponding texture file in the .pcx format can be rendered to the screen with that texture, along with the effects of any applied lighting.