What are the fundamental principles of this system that promises realistic light and shadow calculations in graphics? How does the resemblance between the image formed on the screen and the physical world work? Why is performance loss so high in real-time applications?
How does ray tracing technology work?
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Ray tracing, when compared to light sources in the universe, works directly like the real world — rays bounce off, refract, reflect, and cast shadows behind objects. GPUs used to fill pixels by "brushing" them like paint strokes, calculating light-carrying pixels directly, whereas with RTX and ray tracing, you track each ray individually to see exactly where it goes. The result is that every pixel on the screen essentially acts like a light sensor, just like a camera lens in real life.
As for performance loss, think of it like connecting multiple spotlights in your home to the electricity meter — when the GPU tries to calculate billions of rays per second, it heats up and struggles to keep up. So when dealing with multiple rays, collision calculations with geometry, and how complex shadows are, you see the system "slow down." Now, people are trying to distribute this load using hybrid systems, combining old methods with new ray tracing to both save performance and capture light effectively.