Early Raytracing History

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Even though BRL-CAD has a very long development history, it is actually the latest in a line of raytracing systems dating back to the 1960s. Much of that history is documented in technical reports from the Ballistic Research Laboratory.


MAGIC

The very first raytracer at BRL was...

Report Title Summary
MAGIC Summarize...
MAGIC Summarize...


GIFT

Report Summary
Gift 1 Summary
Gift 2 Summary


Other Early Computational Analysis Efforts

The Air Force's MAGIC System

Although it is not a direct ancestor of BRL-CAD, Bell Aerospace was also developing an early computer based analytical system in the late 1960s and early 1970s for the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory called MAGIC:

Report Summary
MAGIC: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 1. Engineer's Manual
MAGIC: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 2. User's Manual
MAGIC: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 3. Programmer's Manual
MAGIC II: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 1. Engineer's Manual (Addendum)
MAGIC II: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 2. User's Manual
MAGIC II: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 3. Programmer's Manual
MAGIC III: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis Volume 1. Engineer's Manual
MAGIC III: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 2. User's Manual
MAGIC III: An Automated General Purpose System for Structural Analysis. Volume 3. Programmer's Manual