Software Renderer

This is a shader-based software renderer written from scratch in C89 with minimal dependencies, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Features

Cross platform
Minimal dependencies
Shader based
Homogeneous clipping
Back-face culling
Perspective correct interpolation
Depth testing
Alpha testing
Alpha blending
Cubemapped skybox
Skeletal animation
Tangent space normal mapping
Shadow mapping
ACES tone mapping
Blinn–Phong reflection model
Physically based rendering (PBR)
Metallic-roughness workflow
Specular-glossiness workflow
Image-based lighting (IBL)
Orbital camera controls
PBR material inspector

Download

Pre-built binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux are available for download from the Releases page.

Build

To build the software renderer from source, a C89 compiler and development files for your window system are required.

Windows

Install Visual Studio with C++ support and run build_win32.bat.

macOS

Install Command Line Tools for Xcode with the command below and run build_macos.sh.

xcode-select --install

Linux

Install GCC and Xlib with the following commands and run build_linux.sh.

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install gcc libx11-dev

Fedora / RHEL

sudo dnf install gcc libX11-devel

openSUSE / SUSE

sudo zypper install gcc libX11-devel

Bonus

A CMakeLists.txt file is provided for generating project files using CMake (see examples below).

Visual Studio

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" ..
start Renderer.sln

Xcode

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G Xcode ..
open Renderer.xcodeproj

Makefile

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make

Usage

Launch

If the software renderer is launched without arguments, one of the available scenes will be chosen randomly. To display a specific scene (see below), additional arguments should be supplied. The command line syntax is:

Viewer [test_name [scene_name]]

Controls

Orbit: left mouse button
Pan: right mouse button
Zoom: mouse wheel
Rotate lighting: A D S W
Reset everything: Space

Inspector

For PBR scenes, a material inspector that is very similar to the layers view of Marmoset Viewer is provided. Double click to bring it up.

Screenshots

Scene	Command
	`Viewer blinn azura`
	`Viewer blinn centaur`
	`Viewer blinn craftsman`
	`Viewer blinn elfgirl`
	`Viewer blinn kgirl`
	`Viewer blinn lighthouse`
	`Viewer blinn mccree`
	`Viewer blinn nier2b`
	`Viewer blinn phoenix`
	`Viewer blinn vivi`
	`Viewer blinn whip`
	`Viewer blinn witch`
	`Viewer pbr assassin`
	`Viewer pbr buster`
	`Viewer pbr crab`
	`Viewer pbr dieselpunk`
	`Viewer pbr drone`
	`Viewer pbr helmet`
	`Viewer pbr horse`
	`Viewer pbr junkrat`
	`Viewer pbr ornitier`
	`Viewer pbr ponycar`
	`Viewer pbr robot`
	`Viewer pbr sphere`
	`Viewer pbr spheres`

alexguo88/renderer