ray tracing

noun

variants or less commonly ray-tracing

ˈrā-ˌtrā-siŋ 

or raytracing

computers

: a process of creating digital images that include a simulation of real-world illumination by calculating the paths that individual beams of light would travel to a viewer's eye in a depicted scene

So, what even is ray tracing? Well, it's an advanced and lifelike way of rendering light and shadows in a scene. … However, because ray tracing works by simulating and tracking every ray of light produced by a source of lighting, it kind of takes a lot of horsepower …

—Jackie Thomas

Both companies eventually boasted that high-end graphical features such as ray-tracing would happen on smartphones.

—C. Scott Brown

While traditional lighting (AKA rasterization) in games works by essentially using clever trickery to approximate believable lighting, raytracing behaves much more like real light, simulating the actual path light rays would take from their source to your eyes.

—Napier Lopez

ray-tracing capabilities

a GPU with improved ray tracing performance

Examples of ray tracing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which supports ray tracing and frame rates of up to 165 frames per second (fps). —Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 7 Jan. 2025

Both GPUs are running the game with full ray tracing enabled. —Tom Warren, The Verge, 7 Jan. 2025

The game's upcoming PS5 version will also target the same frame rate, while the PS5 Pro may toggle the advanced ray tracing features. —Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 25 Dec. 2024

The bigger upgrade here is the usage of hardware ray tracing, which leads to more accurate reflections, shadows, and lighting. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024

For example, 4K and 120 frames per second gaming can add huge processing demands, and on games that support ray tracing, the problem only gets worse. —Eric Ravenscraft, WIRED, 25 Dec. 2021

With ray tracing, the system calculates the precise path of light beams for more realistic and dynamic reflections and shadows. —Michael Irving, New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2024

As for ray tracing, that’s a feature that’s been supported in the PS5 since launch. —Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 11 Sep. 2024

Currently, most games give you a choice of fidelity or performance mode – the former focuses on ray tracing and 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, while the latter drops some of the detail in favor of a silky smooth 60-fps frame rate. —Michael Irving, New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above