When the animated heroes of Pixar’s upcoming movie Cars speed around a racetrack, their metallic bodies will gleam in the lights like none before.
The four-wheeled characters have been given a little extra sparkle using a software technique called ray tracing, which projects thousands of imaginary light rays onto each object to mimic the way light interacts with surfaces. Cars, due to be released this summer, will be the first feature-length film to use the technique throughout, making its animated vehicles appear more realistic.
The cars start as animated virtual 3D objects labelled with their desired surface texture – how…
