RetroRaster | The Real-time Raytracing Solution for Pixelating Roblox!

Large Update - PointLight Rendering, Optimisations and More!

Hey all, this update introduces lots of needed changes and additions.

Let’s start with the biggest addition,

PointLight Rendering with Real-time Baking


Yes, that’s right! We now have a proper support for lights!

Not only that, but light rendering is super fast and uses a lot of optimisation methods that hardly affect frame rate or memory usage at all!


No light rendering (disabled) - 104 FPS


Light rendering (enabled) - 99 FPS

How does this run so well?


Real-time baking
Well first of all, with static lights that aren’t being updated or moved, light calculations are done only once upon in view! The pixel results are then baked into a global 3D cache storing the light’s colour and brightness information of that coordinate with buffers.

This results in incredible performance. Even with 50+ Lights being rendered

However, light calculations will be recalculated every time a light moves or has it’s properties be changed.

Here’s a visual of the baking in action:
(Red shaded pixels = Light calculations)

Frustum and occlusion culling
I have also added both frustum and occlusion culling to the lights, ensuring that only lights you can see will be iterated through during raytracing. This will result in maximum performance and allows users to have lots of lights spread through out their world without consequences!


Please note that currently only PointLights parented to Parts are supported.

Other lights such as SpotLights or SurfaceLights may be supported in a future release


Here’s the full change log:

  • Added support for PointLight rendering

  • Added glass distortion for transparent parts with the glass material

  • Added a new setting which allows the skybox to darkened depending on clock time

  • Improved global lighting for day time

  • Heavily optimised pixel rendering performance when Interlacing is enabled (2X faster)

  • Changed the GUI’s ResetOnSpawn property to false to prevent reloading of the whole rendering after each respawn.


Special thanks to @geocolada for providing a bit of code for the glass distortion and giving me the idea to add light rendering

7 Likes

Any plans to add it to the creator marketplace? This seems fun to mess around with but I’m lazier to go on itch than I am to even write this reply lol

I cant sell on the marketplace unfortunately, hence why it is on itch

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This is really awesome, ill be buying it soon. Do you plan on adding SurfaceGui support in the near future?

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Possibly in the near future, but not really planned at the moment due to the complexities of the renderer and the multithreading used. But definitely something to consider!

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Small Update - v1.5.0

  • ​Added light rendering support for SpotLight

  • Added a debug info frame which can be opened when Debug mode is enabled in settings. use this to keep track of the raytracing performance.

  • Removed the ‘FirstPersonMode’ setting as it is now fully automatic. To lock the camera in first person, please use ‘StarterPlayer > CameraMode > LockedFirstPerson’

  • Settings are now stored in a ModuleScript rather than inside the RaytracerMain script.

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Woah this is sick! Hopefully some day we see more pixelart styled games being made with techniques like this

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Full Release - RetroRaster can now be used in published experiences!


Roblox has finally released EditableImage to the public, meaning this can now be used in-game!

However, EditableImage is now restricted to 13+ and ID-verified accounts, meaning RetroRaster cannot be used unless you meet the requirements.

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This is a cool project, though I don’t feel comfortable giving $40 USD for something that I can’t test in a published experience. Do you plan to release a test-place on your own profile for us to see how it runs on our devices?

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Yeah actually thats a good idea now that it’s out for published experiences

is there a way i can buy it with robux, not everyone has access to usd/banking

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I could, but im not sure how I would do that. You also have to consider the 30% tax roblox does, meaning you would have to send 30% more of the equivalent robux if you wanted to purchase it. pm me if you’re still interested and ill see what I can do

Instead of 40 dollars, I’d say 25 is more reasonable to most developers.

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look very epic. i wish i could afford it tho. great resource and love the optimization!

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I am no one to price other’s work. I see all the effort that was done to create this system. But at the end of the day I have to agree on it being too expensive.

It is a system that literally has the only purpose to make Roblox look worse objectively, while ironically running worse than without it. Maybe I am missing something here, I don’t know.

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Meant to be stylized, but it’s definitely not going to be picked up by me any time soon with such a hefty price tag.

I fell victim of the high price and yet I still think that the price is too high.
I have experimented with it and while yes it is high quality, I still believe that 50 bucks is an unbalanced price.
Hopefully eventually Ethan will understand economics more in the near future but for now, you get what you get and you don’t get upset.

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Since you actually used it, what would you say is a more fair price?

From what I’ve seen, you practically pay for both the raster itself and another product he has made.
I’ve also been in contact with him and helping him improve some things (for example: spotlight support).
He manages to figure out a solution in decent timing meaning he barely breaks a sweat with the development of his creation, but its about 1500 lines for the main script alone.

A lot of time has been put into this idea and it seems like at takes up a lot of his own time and so I understand where he was trying to go with the price.

From all of that knowledge alone, I believe a more decent price would be $35 (AUD, original $50 AUD) at most. (Translated to Robux is about 2,200)
Thinking about availability more than overall quality.

Christmas Sale! - Price Drop - [ 40% Off! ]

Hey all. After having a difficult time considering RetroRaster’s current state and pricing, I’ve decided to create a sale! The cost for RetroRaster has been reduced from $59.00 AUD ($38.40 USD) down to just $35.40 AUD ($23.04 USD)

This change was also made due to the fact that roblox has limited the use of EditableImage, which this resource uses, meaning not as many users can get their hands on this resource at the moment.


Please Note: This price drop is temporary and will only last until the end of December 2024, afterwards, the price will either return back to $59, or a new slightly lower price will be issued, all depending on where this project will go.



Happy Christmas!

- Ethanthegrand

3 Likes