ssloy/tinyrenderer

Tinyrenderer is a hands-on educational course that teaches you how 3D graphics actually work by building a renderer from scratch in about 500 lines of C++. The problem it solves is the steep learning curve of 3D graphics APIs like OpenGL, Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX, most beginners struggle because these APIs hide all the underlying math. This project shows you that math directly, before you use the abstractions. The course walks through each concept one lesson at a time: drawing lines using Bresenham's algorithm (a method for plotting straight lines on a pixel grid), filling triangles, figuring out which surfaces are in front of others (using a depth buffer called a z-buffer), handling cameras, applying shading and textures, and eventually adding shadow mapping and indirect lighting effects like ambient occlusion. The starting point is just a blank image where you can set individual pixel colors, every drawing feature gets built up from there. You would use this if you want to deeply understand how game engines and 3D software render scenes, or if you're preparing to learn a real 3D API and want the conceptual foundation first. Students typically spend 10 to 20 hours working through it. The output is a rendered image saved to a file, there is no interactive window. The code is written in C++ with no external graphics libraries required.