A computer graphics method and apparatus allows designer control over the rendering
of objects and scenes, in a rendering system using ray tracing for example. A modeling
system is adapted to accept rules for controlling how certain objects affect the
appearance of certain other objects. In a ray tracing implementation, rules are
specified by ray type and can be specified as either "including" all but certain
objects or "excluding" specific objects for any given object. A rendering system
extracts these rules from a bytestream or other input including other graphics
data and instructions, and populates lists for internal use by other components
of the rendering system. A ray tracer in the rendering system is adapted to consult
the list when performing ray tracing, so as to enforce the rendering control specified
by the content creator when the objects and scene are rendered.