This is the first post in a series dedicated to Image-Based Lighting. This is a very common technique in modern videogames used to implement indirect lighting. My original idea was to use this problem as an excuse to explore the use of AI coding agents.
At first, the idea looked promising. I was able to blast through the implementation really quickly and get to a working prototype - which is, in itself, a good result. However, on closer inspection the implementation was actually quite bad, and it ran really slow. It reminded me of the work a very junior engineer might produce. Which gave me the idea that a better project could be to take this initial working implementation, and guide you through my process of fixing it and optimizing it, as one would in a real world production environment.
The intern is gone, and you're left with his half finished, promising project that you need to turn into something actually usable.
Without further ado, let's dive right in.
