Forrest Briggs throwing down with a real-time raytracer in AS3. Also a C++ OpenGL version sample on the page.

Real-time pixel manipulation in flash is getting faster, but is still probably going to have to be faked in AS3, maybe AS4 will provide us per pixel speeds that Andre Michelle has been harping on since flash 8.5. Native operations can be much faster in that area. AIF might look to change some of that but that is Flash 10.

Here is the code for the as3 raytracer. Read more at laserpirate.

package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.display.Bitmap;
import flash.display.BitmapData;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.utils.getTimer;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.text.TextField;
import flash.text.TextFormat;

public class RayTracer extends Sprite
{
 private var t:Number;
 private var dt:Number = .01;
 private var frameTimeTxt:TextField;

 public static const BUFFER_WIDTH:int = 160;
 public static const BUFFER_HEIGHT:int = 120;
 public static const BUFFER_SCALEDDOWN:int = 320 / BUFFER_WIDTH;

 public static const HALF_BUFFER_WIDTH:int = BUFFER_WIDTH / 2;
 public static const HALF_BUFFER_HEIGHT:int = BUFFER_HEIGHT / 2;

 private var outputBitmapData:BitmapData;
 private var outputBitmap:Bitmap;

 public var FOV:Number = 20;

 public var sphereCenterX:Array 	= [0,	0,		0, 		0];
 public var sphereCenterY:Array 	= [0, -.2,	.4, 		100.5];
 public var sphereCenterZ:Array 	= [4, 	4,		4, 		10];
 public var sphereRadius:Array 	= [.35, .35,	.25, 	100];
 public var sphereR:Array 		= [255,	0,		0,		20];
 public var sphereG:Array 		= [0, 	150,	0,		20];
 public var sphereB:Array 		= [0, 	0,		255,	20];
 public var sphereReflects:Array = [false, false, false, true];
 public var sphereReflectiveness:Array = [0,0,0,.3];
 public var sphere2dX:Array = new Array(sphereCenterX.length);
 public var sphere2dY:Array = new Array(sphereCenterX.length);
 public var sphere2dR:Array = new Array(sphereCenterX.length);

	public var numSpheres = sphereCenterX.length;

	var skyR:int =  20;
 var skyG:int =  20;
 var skyB:int =  20;
 var skyColor:int = (skyR< <16) + (skyG<<8) + skyB;
 var ambientIllumination:Number = .1;

	var canvas:BlankClip;

	var theta:Number = 0;
 var mouseIsDown:Boolean = false;
 var mouseDownTheta:Number = 0;
 var mouseDownX:Number = 0;

	public function RayTracer()
 {
 	outputBitmapData = new BitmapData(BUFFER_WIDTH, BUFFER_HEIGHT, false);
 	outputBitmap = new Bitmap(outputBitmapData);
 	addChild(outputBitmap);
 	//outputBitmap.smoothing = true;

		outputBitmap.width= 320;
 	outputBitmap.height = 240;

		canvas = new BlankClip;
 	addChild(canvas);
 	canvas.buttonMode = true;
 	canvas.useHandCursor = true;

		frameTimeTxt = new TextField();
 	frameTimeTxt.defaultTextFormat = new TextFormat("Arial");
 	frameTimeTxt.x = 8;
 	frameTimeTxt.y = 8;
 	frameTimeTxt.width = 640;
 	frameTimeTxt.textColor = 0xFFFFFF;
 	frameTimeTxt.selectable = false;
 	addChild(frameTimeTxt);

		t = 0;
 	addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, update, false, 0, true);

		canvas.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler);
 	canvas.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, mouseUpHandler);
 }

	public function mouseDownHandler(e:*):void
 {
 	mouseIsDown = true;
 	mouseDownX = stage.mouseX;
 	mouseDownTheta = theta;
 }

	public function mouseUpHandler(e:*):void
 {
 	mouseIsDown = false;
 }

	public function update(e:*)
 {
 	// start frame timer and update global time
 	var timer:Number = getTimer();
 	t += dt;

		// handle mouse rotation
 	if( mouseIsDown ) theta = mouseDownTheta - .0015 * (stage.mouseX - mouseDownX);
 	theta += dt;

		// do some funky animation
 	sphereCenterX[0] = .5*Math.sin(theta*5);
 	sphereCenterZ[0] =1 + .5*Math.cos(theta*5);

		sphereCenterX[1] = .5*Math.sin(theta*5 + 2 * Math.PI / 3);
 	sphereCenterZ[1] = 1 + .5*Math.cos(theta*5 + 2 * Math.PI / 3);

		sphereCenterX[2] = .5*Math.sin(theta*5 + 4 * Math.PI / 3);
 	sphereCenterZ[2] = 1 + .5*Math.cos(theta*5 + 4 * Math.PI / 3);

		// reused variables
 	var x:int;
 	var y:int;
 	var i:int;
 	var j:int;

		var r:int;
 	var g:int;
 	var b:int;

		var dx:Number;
 	var dy:Number;

		var rayDirX:Number;
 	var rayDirY:Number;
 	var rayDirZ:Number;
 	var rayDirMag:Number;

		var reflectRayDirX:Number;
 	var reflectRayDirY:Number;
 	var reflectRayDirZ:Number;

		var intersectionX:Number;
 	var intersectionY:Number;
 	var intersectionZ:Number;

		var reflectIntersectionX:Number;
 	var reflectIntersectionY:Number;
 	var reflectIntersectionZ:Number;

		var rayToSphereCenterX:Number;
 	var rayToSphereCenterY:Number;
 	var rayToSphereCenterZ:Number;

		var lengthRTSC2:Number;
 	var closestApproach:Number;
 	var halfCord2:Number;
 	var dist:Number;

		var normalX:Number;
 	var normalY:Number;
 	var normalZ:Number;
 	var normalMag:Number;

		var illumination:Number;
 	var reflectIllumination:Number;

		var reflectR:Number;
 	var reflectG:Number;
 	var reflectB:Number;

		// setup light dir
 	var lightDirX:Number = .3;
 	var lightDirY:Number = -1;
 	var lightDirZ:Number = -.5;
 	var lightDirMag:Number = 1/Math.sqrt(lightDirX*lightDirX +lightDirY*lightDirY +lightDirZ*lightDirZ);
 	lightDirX *= lightDirMag;
 	lightDirY *= lightDirMag;
 	lightDirZ *= lightDirMag;

		// vars used to in intersection tests
 	var closestIntersectionDist:Number;
 	var closestSphereIndex:int;
 	var reflectClosestSphereIndex:int;

		// compute screen space bounding circles
 	//canvas.graphics.clear();
 	//canvas.graphics.lineStyle(1, 0xFF0000, .25);
 	for(i = 0; i < numSpheres; ++i)
 	{
 		sphere2dX[i] = (BUFFER_WIDTH / 2 + FOV * sphereCenterX[i] / sphereCenterZ[i]);
 		sphere2dY[i] = (BUFFER_HEIGHT /2 + FOV * sphereCenterY[i] / sphereCenterZ[i]);
 		sphere2dR[i] = (3 * FOV * sphereRadius[i] / sphereCenterZ[i]);
 		//canvas.graphics.drawCircle(sphere2dX[i]*BUFFER_SCALEDDOWN, sphere2dY[i]*BUFFER_SCALEDDOWN, sphere2dR[i]*BUFFER_SCALEDDOWN);
 		sphere2dR[i] *= sphere2dR[i]; // store the squared value
 	}

		// write to each pixel
 	outputBitmapData.lock();
 	for(y = 0; y < BUFFER_HEIGHT; ++y)
 	{
 		for(x = 0; x < BUFFER_WIDTH; ++x)
 		{
 			// compute ray direction
 			rayDirX = x - HALF_BUFFER_WIDTH;
 			rayDirY = y - HALF_BUFFER_HEIGHT;
 			rayDirZ = FOV;

				rayDirMag = 1/Math.sqrt(rayDirX * rayDirX + rayDirY * rayDirY +rayDirZ * rayDirZ);
 			rayDirX *= rayDirMag;
 			rayDirY *= rayDirMag;
 			rayDirZ *= rayDirMag;

				/// trace the primary ray ///
 			closestIntersectionDist = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
 			closestSphereIndex = -1
 			for(i = 0; i < numSpheres; ++i)
 			{
 				// check against screen space bounding circle
 				dx = x - sphere2dX[i];
 				dy = y - sphere2dY[i];
 				if( dx * dx + dy * dy > sphere2dR[i] ) continue;

					// begin actual ray tracing if its inside the bounding circle

					lengthRTSC2 = 		sphereCenterX[i] * sphereCenterX[i] +
 									sphereCenterY[i] * sphereCenterY[i] +
 									sphereCenterZ[i] * sphereCenterZ[i];

					closestApproach =	sphereCenterX[i] * rayDirX +
 									sphereCenterY[i] * rayDirY +
 									sphereCenterZ[i] * rayDirZ;

					if( closestApproach < 0 ) // intersection behind the origin
 					continue;

					halfCord2 = sphereRadius[i] * sphereRadius[i] - lengthRTSC2 + (closestApproach * closestApproach);
 				if( halfCord2 < 0 ) // ray misses the sphere
 					continue;

					// ray hits the sphere
 				dist = closestApproach - Math.sqrt(halfCord2);
 				if( dist < closestIntersectionDist )
 				{
 					closestIntersectionDist = dist;
 					closestSphereIndex=i;
 				}
 			}
 			/// end of trace primary ray ///

				// primary ray doesn't hit anything
 			if( closestSphereIndex == - 1)
 			{
 				outputBitmapData.setPixel(x, y, skyColor);
 			}
 			else // primary ray hits a sphere.. calculate shading, shadow and reflection
 			{
 				// location of ray-sphere intersection
 				intersectionX = rayDirX * closestIntersectionDist;
 				intersectionY = rayDirY * closestIntersectionDist;
 				intersectionZ = rayDirZ * closestIntersectionDist;

					// sphere normal at intersection point
 				normalX = intersectionX - sphereCenterX[closestSphereIndex];
 				normalY = intersectionY - sphereCenterY[closestSphereIndex];
 				normalZ = intersectionZ - sphereCenterZ[closestSphereIndex];
 				normalX /= sphereRadius[closestSphereIndex]; // could be multiply by precacluated 1/rad
 				normalY /= sphereRadius[closestSphereIndex];
 				normalZ /= sphereRadius[closestSphereIndex];

					// diffuse illumination coef
 				illumination = 	normalX * lightDirX +
 								normalY * lightDirY +
 								normalZ * lightDirZ;

					if( illumination < ambientIllumination )
 					illumination = ambientIllumination;

					/// trace a shadow ray ///
 				var isInShadow:Boolean = false;
 				for(j = 0; j < numSpheres; ++j)
 				{
 					if( j == closestSphereIndex ) continue;

						rayToSphereCenterX = sphereCenterX[j] - intersectionX;
 					rayToSphereCenterY = sphereCenterY[j] - intersectionY;
 					rayToSphereCenterZ = sphereCenterZ[j] - intersectionZ;

						lengthRTSC2 = 		rayToSphereCenterX * rayToSphereCenterX +
 										rayToSphereCenterY * rayToSphereCenterY +
 										rayToSphereCenterZ * rayToSphereCenterZ;

						closestApproach =	rayToSphereCenterX * lightDirX +
 										rayToSphereCenterY * lightDirY +
 										rayToSphereCenterZ * lightDirZ;
 					if( closestApproach < 0 ) // intersection behind the origin
 						continue;

						halfCord2 = sphereRadius[j] * sphereRadius[j] - lengthRTSC2 + (closestApproach * closestApproach);
 					if( halfCord2 < 0 ) // ray misses the sphere
 						continue;

						isInShadow = true;
 					break;

					}

					/// end of shadow ray ///

					if( isInShadow ) illumination *= .5;

					/// trace reflected ray ///
 				if( sphereReflects[closestSphereIndex] )
 				{
 					// calculate reflected ray direction
 					var reflectCoef:Number = 2 * (rayDirX * normalX + rayDirY * normalY + rayDirZ * normalZ);
 					reflectRayDirX = rayDirX - normalX * reflectCoef;
 					reflectRayDirY = rayDirY - normalY * reflectCoef;
 					reflectRayDirZ = rayDirZ - normalZ * reflectCoef;

						closestIntersectionDist = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
 					reflectClosestSphereIndex = -1
 					for(j = 0; j < numSpheres; ++j)
 					{
 						if( j == closestSphereIndex ) continue;

							rayToSphereCenterX = sphereCenterX[j] - intersectionX;
 						rayToSphereCenterY = sphereCenterY[j] - intersectionY;
 						rayToSphereCenterZ = sphereCenterZ[j] - intersectionZ;

							lengthRTSC2 = 		rayToSphereCenterX * rayToSphereCenterX +
 											rayToSphereCenterY * rayToSphereCenterY +
 											rayToSphereCenterZ * rayToSphereCenterZ;

							closestApproach = 	rayToSphereCenterX * reflectRayDirX +
 											rayToSphereCenterY * reflectRayDirY +
 											rayToSphereCenterZ * reflectRayDirZ;

							if( closestApproach < 0 ) // intersection behind the origin
 							continue;

							halfCord2 = sphereRadius[j] * sphereRadius[j] - lengthRTSC2 + (closestApproach * closestApproach);
 						if( halfCord2 < 0 ) // ray misses the sphere
 							continue;

							// ray hits the sphere
 						dist = closestApproach - Math.sqrt(halfCord2);
 						if( dist < closestIntersectionDist )
 						{
 							closestIntersectionDist = dist;
 							reflectClosestSphereIndex=j;
 						}
 					} // end loop through spheres for reflect ray

						if( reflectClosestSphereIndex == - 1) // reflected ray misses
 					{
 						r = sphereR[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;
 						g = sphereG[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;
 						b = sphereB[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;

						}
 					else
 					{
 						//trace("ref hit");
 						// location of ray-sphere intersection
 						reflectIntersectionX = reflectRayDirX * closestIntersectionDist + intersectionX;
 						reflectIntersectionY = reflectRayDirY * closestIntersectionDist + intersectionY;
 						reflectIntersectionZ = reflectRayDirZ * closestIntersectionDist + intersectionZ;

							// sphere normal at intersection point
 						normalX = reflectIntersectionX - sphereCenterX[reflectClosestSphereIndex];
 						normalY = reflectIntersectionY - sphereCenterY[reflectClosestSphereIndex];
 						normalZ = reflectIntersectionZ - sphereCenterZ[reflectClosestSphereIndex];

							normalX /= sphereRadius[reflectClosestSphereIndex]; // could be multiply by precacluated 1/rad
 						normalY /= sphereRadius[reflectClosestSphereIndex];
 						normalZ /= sphereRadius[reflectClosestSphereIndex];

							// diffuse illumination coef
 						reflectIllumination = 	normalX * lightDirX +
 												normalY * lightDirY +
 												normalZ * lightDirZ;

							if( reflectIllumination < ambientIllumination )
 							reflectIllumination = ambientIllumination;

							r = sphereR[closestSphereIndex] * illumination + .5 * sphereR[reflectClosestSphereIndex] * reflectIllumination;
 						g = sphereG[closestSphereIndex] * illumination + .5 * sphereG[reflectClosestSphereIndex] * reflectIllumination;
 						b = sphereB[closestSphereIndex] * illumination + .5 * sphereB[reflectClosestSphereIndex] * reflectIllumination;
 						if( r > 255 ) r = 255;
 						if( g > 255 ) g = 255;
 						if( b > 255 ) b = 255;

						}  // end if reflected ray hits

					} /// end if reflects
 				else // primary ray doesn't reflect
 				{
 					r = sphereR[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;
 					g = sphereG[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;
 					b = sphereB[closestSphereIndex] * illumination;
 				}

					outputBitmapData.setPixel(x, y, (r<<16) + (g<<8) + b);

				} // end if primary ray hit
 		} // end x loop
 	} // end y loop
 	outputBitmapData.unlock();

		// compute FPS
 	var fps:Number = 1.0/((getTimer() - timer) / 1000.0);
 	frameTimeTxt.text = "Drag to rotate. FPS: " + int(fps);
 }

}
}

I was messing with water effects and Perlin Noise (sandy3d) and some other stuff and collected some water effects and simulations that are fluid like for research, a snapshot of the state of fluid and water effects in 3d in flash.

Ralph Hauwert, of course one of the original pv3d team members, posted some great samples on water effects on 3d objects in Papervision 3D. Of course the papervision list spawned this discussion from another great post on water simulation in papervision and away3d by Exey Panteleev .

Also, some other water like effects from Fabrice Closier and the notorious mrdoob.

Ralph’s Water Effect Demos:

• Water Ball Experiment 1

• Water Ball 2(cpu burner alert!)

Hey look, the water ball is smiling at you.

Exey Panteleev’s Water Simulation:

• PV3D Simulation [source]
• Away3D Simulation [source]

Some other Water Like Fluid Effects:

• mrdoob fluid visualisation effect (like wata)

• away3d temple fabrice

Water is hard in flash. Fluid dynamics will probably have to be cheated but it is still looking pretty good. The amount of processor usage depends on how real you want it to look.

If you are looking to make some agua, with x, the y AND the z in Flash or Flex, these are a good place to start.

Great news! Polygonal Labs has released the long awaited Motor Physics engine. It is now called Motor2.

UPDATE: Now hosted at Google code

Project hosted at code.google.com/p/motor2
License: New BSD License

After the port of Box2DFlashAS3 appeared the fate of Motor Physics engine was unknown. But with time and just before the stroke of midnight on the final hour of 2007 Michael Baczynski released Motor2 2D physics engine on the world.

This now gives us, count them, FOUR AS3 Physics engines that were released in 2007 in order of release.

• APE
• FOAM
• Box2DFlashAS3
• Motor2 (based on Box2d as well)

Be sure to check the demos of Motor Physics:

• 200 stacked boxes
• polygon soup (this one flows like water)
• compound shapes

To get the source head on over to the blog and in the post it is in the first para.

Currently you can get the source for the preview here.

Polygonal always has such great information and demo write ups the source link gets lost in there. Hopefully this will be at Google code soon or a public SVN. The code looks great and there are optimizations in there but even those are elegant.

With 3 excellent flash as3 3d engines (papervision3d, away3d, sandy), 4 physics engines, lots of great utilities like FZip or ASZip, AlivePDF, Red5, haXe etc etc. 2008 is looking like it will be a great year for performance, optimization and gaming/app platforms on the web like never before seen. I am most looking forward to the coming gaming market for flash, lots of possibilities. With the added competition from Silverlight, much innovation will happen here.

It is great that Motor2, which has a great author and dedicated to performance has joined the physics engine scene, not only that posting on new years eve. Thanks to all that make the flash platform possible of creating excellent new fun and useful tools.

UPDATE: Now hosted at Google code

Project hosted at code.google.com/p/motor2
License: New BSD License

Only a year after release Papervision is getting a major update to 2.0.

Get it while it is hot from the SVN server on google code: http://papervision3d.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/branches/GreatWhite

Papervision3D, launched a year ago, really sparked the AS3 and flash/flex world and inspired every flash guru I know into working on this code. There have been some great tools made and some fwa’s won but it is only the beginning.

I am mostly looking forward to performance enhancements, ascollada integration, culling and Andy Zupko’s 2d bitmap effects on 3d.

New features:

• Faster!
• ShadeMaterials
• Shaders
• ASCollada (animation support)
• Frustrum Culling
• Multiple Viewports (3d editor anyone?)
• Render to Scene
• and more!

SVN server and branch:

• http://papervision3d.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/branches/GreatWhite

We do indeed like to ride the racecars!

Andy Zupko is probably doing some of the coolest / useful work in performance and possible effects combining 2D and 3D. Using 2D BitmapData and papervision 3D it turns out you can create a parallel dimension of coolness that cannot fully exist by themselves.

Papervision 2.0 with these effects and if it is as pluggable as it seems is very good for games that lighting is a key component or effects. Imagine a game that can customize weapons with 2d effects in 3d, or rocket boosters, or fireworks or all kinds of inspiring things like changing the mood or environment such as fog, lighting etc… If you start taling about adding physics to all this it just gets too fun. Effects have always been there and around, but making this possible to have a semi-standard way to do this and if it is pluggable, this can lead to many engine advancements.

I think the PV3d team additions of Tim Knip and Andy Zupko have been very good and zupko era in PV3d has begun. Tim Knip is also very active and helping to really organize the ascollada formats and performance stuff like only drawing what is on screen.

Who needs Hydra now? j/k although having this now in papervision leads me to see a very fun 2008 ahead for Flash, it is also, if as pluggable as it seems, a bit like a shaders kit.

All those older great 2d effects merging into 3d from the good old days (some still going very strong) of praystation, yugop, levitated, neave (great 2d tv effects in neave.tv) , flight404 (moved to processing) and many others. And a new era of zupko [pv3d], mr. doob, unitzeroone [pv3d], fabrice [away3d] and many more a new 2d effects in 3d platform is emerging. This kit for papervision3d by zupko and Hydra is making the future glowing full of bright points, and lots of effect explosions.

Let’s hope papervision3d 2.0 it is released soon and it has zupko’s effects code in there.