A 3D Rasterizer For Embedded Devices

Once upon a time, doing graphics on a microcontroller was challenging, to say nothing of the concept of going into three dimensions. But modern microcontrollers are far more powerful, and …. A 3D Rasterizer For Embedded Devices.

But modern microcontrollers are far more powerful, and you might find yourself wanting to do all sorts of graphical wizardry with one. Created by [CubeCoders], Jet is a compact 3D rasterizer built for modern chips like the ESP32 and STM32. It’s dependency free, relatively tiny, and is written in C++17 with an eye towards working well on memory-limited platforms.

It runs entirely in software, uses only integer arithmetic, and is built around 16-bit RGB565 color — intended to make it easy to use with parts like the ST7796, ILI9488, and other similar displays interfaced via SPI. As a point of reference, on an ESP32-S3 Jet can render around 650 on-screen triangles (post-culling) at 60 frames per second on a 480×320 display, or 1300 triangles at 30 FPS. The developers note that 3D performance lands somewhere between the Sega 32X and Sega Saturn — not bad for a microcontroller you can buy for under $20.

The Wipeout- like demo shows off the capabilities of Jet rather fantastically, we think.