The Candela Engine

Candela is an experimental engine that prioritizes both performance and visuals. The primary objective of the engine was to serve as a tool for enhancing my knowledge and understanding of light transport, filtering, physically-based rendering, volumetrics and intersection algorithms. The engine is entirely built from scratch using C++17 and the modern OpenGL programmable pipeline.

Project Status

Since I have to primarily focus on school, development on the engine will be slow. However, I have no intentions of abandoning it as of yet. It is also worth noting that I also work on other projects and shaders in my free time.

Current Feature List

Model loading, abstracted program/application API
Procedural Normal Map Generation (Using sobel operator)
Custom SAH BVH Constructor and Ray Intersection API
Support for Stack/Stackless BVH traversal
Physically based direct lighting (Cook Torrance BRDF)
Cascaded Shadow Mapping + PCF Filtering
Screenspace shadowing
Ray traced Diffuse Global illumination
Screenspace global illumination
Infinite bounce GI using irradiance probes
Ray traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO)
Hemispherical Shadow Maps for a sky shadowing approximation
Hybrid Specular GI (SSR + World Space RT)
SVGF + Specialized Specular Denoiser
Temporal Anti Aliasing + Upscaling
Fast Approximate Anti Aliasing (Based on FXAA 3.11 by Nvidia)
Spatial Image Upscaling (Custom CAS + AMD FSR EASU)
Volumetrics (Direct + Indirect light contribution)
Upscaling (Temporal/Spatial)
Culling (Frustum/Face Culling)
HDR Environment Map Support
Post Processing Pipeline (Bloom, DoF, Purkinje Effect, Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Color Dithering, ACES Tonemapping, Procedural Lens Flare etc.)
Basic Editor Features + Debug Views
Transparent/Refractive Material Support (Weighted Blended OIT, Stochastic OIT, Screenspace Refractions and Screenspace caustics)

Planned Features

Realistic sky rendering (Volumetric atmosphere and clouds)
Antileak algorithm for the probe system
ReStir GI
Fast Transparent Shadows
IES lights
LTC for area lighting
RSM
Bent Normals
GTAO
Particle system with screenspace lighting
Voxelization and VXCT
Screenspace cone tracing
Constant time parallax mapping
Raytraced Acoustics (WIP)

Requirements

GPU : One with >= 2 GB of vRAM that supports OpenGL 4.5 and the bindless texture OpenGL extension (ARB_bindless_texture).
CPU : A decent 64 bit CPU should be fine.
RAM : >= 4 GB should be fine.

Performance

Runs at around 24 fps on a AMD Vega 11 (desktop) iGPU.

Known Issues

Volumetrics and infinite bounce GI prone to light leaking.
Temporal/Spatial artifacts (usually in the form of noise, ghosting or temporal lag) on aggressive movement or sudden lighting changes.