# mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba

Mitsuba renderer main repository

Repository: https://github.com/mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mitsuba
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2023-09-11T19:45:29+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4065, "days_push": 1087, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1114, forks 328 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:38.145687+00:00)

## What it is
Mitsuba is a research-oriented physically based rendering system written in portable C++, inspired by PBRT. It implements unbiased and biased rendering techniques with a modular plugin architecture of over 100 plugins, and ships with both a command-line interface and a graphical scene explorer.

## Use cases
- render photorealistic images with physically based light transport
- experiment with Metropolis Light Transport and path-based rendering algorithms
- research new rendering techniques in computer graphics
- model and render volumetric media and participating media
- preview and tune 3D scenes interactively before final rendering
- use as a testbed for graphics algorithm development

## When to choose
- you need an open-source physically based renderer for graphics research
- you want to experiment with advanced or experimental rendering techniques not found in mainstream renderers
- you need a modular renderer with many material, light source, and integrator plugins
- you want a PBRT-style renderer that runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows

## When to avoid
- you need a production renderer for film or game asset pipelines with studio tooling
- you want GPU-accelerated real-time rendering
- you need a renderer with an active development roadmap - this repository is in maintenance mode and superseded by Mitsuba 3
- you require a permissive license - Mitsuba is GPL-3.0

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: graphics, simulation, cli, gui
- domain: graphics, simulation
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: physically-based-rendering, ray-tracing, computer-graphics, rendering-algorithms, research, pbrt-style, metropolis-light-transport, volumetric-rendering, plugin-architecture, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:38.145687+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:42:31.681977+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:38.145687+00:00, sha 6b2d3f2415cc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.