raycastlib

Public domain ray casting library for (not only) resource-limited computers.

If you like this, you may also like my similar project: small3dlib. These two libraries can very easily be combined together -- here is a proof-of-concept gif (environment rendered with raycastlib, cubes with small3dlib):

eye-candy previews

Pokitto (32bit embedded console, 48 MHz, 36 kB RAM):

SDL (PC):

Arduboy (8bit Arduino console, 16 MHz, 2.5 kB RAM):

terminal:

Gamebuino META (Arduino 32bit console, 48 MHz, 32 kB RAM):

features

• Very fast, small and efficient.
• Uses only integer math (32bit). The tiny version should only require 16bit, but isn't completed.
• No dependencies (uses only stdint standard library), extremely portable.
• Single header, KISS, suckless.
• Advanced rendering of variable height floor and ceiling.
• Textured walls and floor.
• Depth information (e.g. for fog or z-buffer rendering).
• Camera shearing (looking up/down).
• Camera movement with collisions.
• Partial support for opening door.
• Pure C99, tested to run as C++ as well.
• Optional framework functions that handle the whole rendering.
• Still flexible -- pixels are left for you to draw in any way you want.
• Tested on multiple platforms (PC, Arduboy, Pokitto, Gamebuino META).
• Many compile-time options to tune the performance vs quality.
• Well commented and formatted code. Automatic documentation (comments + provided Doxyfile).
• Completely free of legal restrictions, do literally anything you want.

NOTE: Backwards compatibility isn't a goal of this libraray. It is meant to be an as-is set of tools that the users is welcome to adjust for their specific project. So new features will be preferred to keeping the same interface.

how to use

Don't forget to compile with -O3! This drastically improves performance.

For start take a look at the testTerminal.c program. It is only a little bit more complex than a simple hello world.

For more examples see the other files, plus my Pokitto demos repository, which contains some better documented example code, including a very simple hello world.

Also see the library code itself, it is meant to be self-documenting -- you'll find the description of a lot of things at the start of the file.

The basic philosophy is:

• The library implements only a rendering back-end, it doesn't perform any drawing to the actual screen, hence there is no dependency on any library such as OpenGL or SDL. It just calls your front-end function and tells you which pixels you should write. How you do it is up to you.
• Before including the header, define RCL_PIXEL_FUNCTION to the name of a function you will use to draw pixels. It is basically a fragment/pixel shader function that the library will call. You will be passed info about the pixel and can decide what to do with it, so you can process it, discard it, or simply write it to the screen.
• Call RCL_renderSimple or RCL_renderComplex to perform the frame rendering. This will cause the library to start calling the RCL_PIXEL_FUNCTION in order to draw the frame. You can optionally write a similar function of your own using the more low-level functions which are also provided.
• The library gets info about the world (such as floor or ceiling height) via array functions (RCL_ArrayFunction type) -- functions that take x and y coordinates of a square and return given information. This way you are free to not only fetch the map data from an array, but also generate the world procedurally if that is what you want.
• Fixed point arithmetics is used as a principle, but there is no abstraction above it, everything is simply an integer (RCL_Unit type). The space is considered to be a dense grid, where each world square has a side length of RCL_UNITS_PER_SQUARE units. Numbers are normalized by this constant, so e.g. the sin function returns a value from -RCL_UNITS_PER_SQUARE to RCL_UNITS_PER_SQUARE.

TODO

• Transparency (conditional ray passing through).
• Doors in the middle of squares.
• Rolling doors for RCL_renderComplex.
• Possibly merge all rendering functions into one.
• Fix rendering bug that happens at the boundary of positive and negative square coords.

license

Everything is CC0 1.0 (public domain, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) + a waiver of all other IP rights (including patents).

The art used in demos is either my own released under CC0 or someone else's released under CC0.

Please support free software and free culture by using free licenses and/or waivers.

If you'd like to support me or just read something about me and my projects, visit my site: www.tastyfish.cz.