I asked Andrew Glassner if he had the original paper issues of the Ray Tracing News available. He replied, “About an hour ago I entered the vault, filled with nitrogen to prevent decay, put on the fiber-free white gloves, and was allowed to view the original manuscripts.” In other words, he found them in some box (I suspect I have them in some different box, too, somewhere…). He kindly scanned all four and they’re now available as PDFs, hosted here.

Andrew started this informal journal for us ray tracing researchers immediately after SIGGRAPH 1987, where he had organized the first “ray-tracing roundtable.” It was no mean feat to gather us together, check the email list at the end of the first issue. Tip: I’m no longer at hpfcla!hpfcrs!eye!erich@hplabs.HP.COM. Delivery was like the Pony Express back then.

Having these (virtually) in hand makes the Ray Tracing News collection online complete, sort of like catching all the Pokémon. It’s nice to have these publications available on the web now. I enjoy seeing ideas such as Jim Arvo’s simulated annealing and Paul Heckbert’s minimal ray tracer where they first appeared.

And, the issues have filler cartoons, made by Andrew – these follow. Hey, I enjoyed them. Ray tracing is not a rich vein of comedy gold; there isn’t exactly an abundance of comics on the subject (I know of this, this, and this one, at most – xkcd and SMBC, step up your game. Well, SMBC at least had this, and xkcd this).

We finally, a mere 30-odd years later, have tracing tablets (if you view some Shadertoys on an iPad).