This file is part of a glorious rescue mission: migrating ancient code from the dusty vaults of the internet to the shiny halls of GitHub.
This code has been preserved as faithfully as possible, warts and all. All code contained herein is original code written by Paul Nettle unless otherwise noted.
FSRad is a radiosity processor specialized for lightmap generation. Given a geometric database, FSRad will generate tightly packed lightmaps for your scene, remap the scene for these new lightmaps, slice polygons when necessary to allow them to stay within the lightmap resolution and illuminate the scene using a very precise radiostiy solution. In other words, it's a complete solution for high quality lightmap generation. The process is entirely automated, just click the big "Go" button. There are lots of features and although there is no documentation, full source code is included. This is an alpha release, and I'm not sure if/when I'll have a chance to revisit it.
Don't expect to view your radiosity results right away -- you'll either need to read/write the supported formats, or hack your own format into the source. Get an example data file of the Cornell Box here.
You can see some screenshots and examples here.
If you're curious how Radiosity works, I wrote a couple of documents that help explain the process in simple terms. They are Radiosity In English and Radiosity In English II: Form Factor Calculation. You can find them here.
This repository includes:
- Original source code with minimal modifications
- Historical comments and design choices, preserved for posterity
- A fresh coat of licensing and documentation (hello
LICENSEandREADME.md!) - Possibly some delightful quirks from a bygone programming era
The code is now released under the MIT License, unless stated otherwise. You are free to use, modify, and redistribute it.
Note: Original copyright notices from the author have been retained for historical context.
This code is vintage. That means:
- Expect odd formatting, outdated conventions, and maybe even some nostalgia.
- It might not compile or run without some TLC.
- There's zero warranty, and it may bite. You’ve been warned.
Because history matters. This code is a snapshot of how things were done back then—and in some cases, how they’re still done today. Think of it as open source time travel.
Happy coding!
— Paul