In Section 1, we develop a data type for surfaces in space that
maintains important connectivity data and surface normals. The
new data type is especially important for preparing ray-tracing
input from Mathematica graphics. Section 2 discusses ray tracing
and Section 3 treats conversion utilities for preparing input
from Mathematica graphics for two popular ray-tracing programs,
POVray and rayshade. Section 4 shows how the color plates were
Finally, Section 5 shown an application: ray-traced stereo pairs
of images that can give a true three-dimensional appearance. Ray
tracers make it feasible to produce stunning images with
moderate effort. The graphics conversion programs described here
allow you to tap Mathematica potential to easily create input
for ray tracing.