Implementing a Tiny CPU Rasterizer

2 months ago

The author explains the concept of rasterization in OpenGL and how GPUs use it to render graphics.
Motivated by curiosity, the author decides to implement a CPU-only 3D rasterization engine from scratch, documenting the process as a tutorial series.
The tutorial begins with setting up a basic rendering environment using SDL2 for window management and CMake for project building.
The author discusses the rationale behind creating a CPU rasterizer, highlighting educational and debugging benefits despite its inefficiency compared to GPU rendering.
Initial steps include creating a window, setting up a draw buffer, and implementing a basic clear function to fill the screen with a solid color.
The tutorial introduces a custom API design for the rasterizer, starting with basic data types like color4ub and vector4f, and a simple image_view structure.
Performance metrics are introduced early, measuring frame time to understand the rasterizer's efficiency, with initial results showing promising speeds for simple tasks.
The author outlines future plans to expand the rasterizer's capabilities, starting with drawing triangles in the next part of the series.

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