Rendering

Global illumination

YafaRay employs global illumination using Monte Carlo-derived approximations to produce realistically lit renders of 3D scenes.

Skydome illumination

The illumination system is based mainly on light coming from an emitting sky (see skybox), taking into account soft-shadow calculations involved. The illumination can be obtained from a high-dynamic-range image (HDRI).

Caustics

YafaRay uses a form of photon mapping that allows for caustics (light distortion produced by reflection or refraction of a curved surface, such as through a burning glass). For simulating somewhat translucent materials, there is a subsurface scattering shader under development.

Depth of field

Depth of field effects can be produced by using settings for focal distance and aperture. With a fixed point in the scene in focus, objects closer and farther away will be out of focus.

Blurry reflections

If the material of a surface is not a perfect reflector, distortion arises in the reflected light. This distortion will grow bigger as the reflecting object is taken farther away. YafaRay can simulate this phenomenon of blurry reflections.

Architecture

Modular framework

YafaRay features a modular structure: at the core is a kernel the rest of the render elements (scene loader, lights, and shaders) must connect to. This, together with the specification of an API, allows for the development of rendering plug-ins to enable the use of YafaRay from any program or 3D suite. YafaRay-supported software includes: Blender, Wings 3D, and Aztec.

Cross-platform

YafaRay was written in C++ for good portability, and there are precompiled binaries for the most common platforms: Linux, Windows and macOS. YafaRay can be used as a stand-alone render engine, using its own scene description format. In this way, it can be used directly from the command line, it can be called by a script, etc. There are also provisions for parallel and/or distributed rendering.