I do optics design, and use "ray tracing" to analyze optical systems -- lenses, mirrors, etc. So imagine my surprise when I see a link for "ray tracing," and it's some graphical rendering that I can't fathom or use.
It is actually the same thing, but applied to different areas of interest. In both cases it uses equations from physics to form a simulation of light propagation that is accurate enough under certain conditions.
Optical ray tracing predates the computer age, so people learned analysis techniques that required tracing a bare minimum number of rays. In fact you can learn a lot about a simple system by tracing just two rays. For this reason, ray diagrams shown in optics designs tend to show relatively few rays.
But every optics designer wishes we could have the same cool tools as the graphics people, but with the analysis features that we need.
It is actually the same thing, but applied to different areas of interest. In both cases it uses equations from physics to form a simulation of light propagation that is accurate enough under certain conditions.
Optical ray tracing predates the computer age, so people learned analysis techniques that required tracing a bare minimum number of rays. In fact you can learn a lot about a simple system by tracing just two rays. For this reason, ray diagrams shown in optics designs tend to show relatively few rays.
But every optics designer wishes we could have the same cool tools as the graphics people, but with the analysis features that we need.