## What is RenderPark?

RenderPark is a test-bed system for physically based photo-realistic image synthesis. It's a free software package providing a solid implementation of a wide variety of state-of-the-art ray-tracing and radiosity algorithms. Our goal is to compare these algorithms on a fair basis, to evaluate benefits and shortcomings, to find solutions for the latter and to develop new algorithms that are more robust and efficient than the algorithms that are available in rendering systems today, free or commercial. Although RenderPark is in the first place a tool for research and teaching, it is evolving towards a full featured physics based global illumination rendering system that also illumination engineers, architects, designers and artists will appreciate.

The development of RenderPark started in the fall of 1993. Most of its development took place (and still takes place) at the Computer Graphics Research Group of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Belgium. Its realization is supported by the Belgian National Science Foundation (FWO-Vl), the Flemish Institute for the Promotion of Scientific-Technological Research in Industry (IWT) and an equipment grant by Hewlett-Packard. RenderPark is realized within the context of various international collaboration projects as well.

### Current release: version 3.3, August, 23 2001

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Image rendered using photon mapping, one of the algorithms implemented in RenderPark.