High Dynamic Range Support

There is no fundamental reason the BRL-CAD raytracer cannot produce High Dynamic Range output, but it currently does not do so and BRL-CAD's image tools do not support it.

This task would involve:

1. Investigating the OpenEXR image file format for suitability for use in BRL-CAD
2. Identify BRL-CAD libraries and tools that would need to be enhanced (either to support OpenEXR or some other format)
3. Allow BRL-CAD raytracing to generate HDRI output
4. Allow BRL-CAD image editing and display tools to work with HDRI output

The end product should be an enhanced raytracer and toolchain that can produce and handle HDRI images.

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging

• src/rt
  • most of our raytracers reside in here
• src/liboptical
  • where optics are calculated during raytracing
• src/util
  • tons of image converters

Requirements

• Strong familiarity with C and C++
• Understanding of issues related to HDR images and conversions