RubaTwo related questions for computer graphics people:
1. is it true that ray/line/whatever intersection tests are common in interviews?
2. how common are questions of this nature, where you have equations memorized?🤔
(boosts appreciated pls)
Innes McK1. yes, super common
2. they're not really about memorizing equations, more about showing you have a working grasp of 3d maths and basic algebraic operations - if you're comfortable with vectors, dot product, cross product you can likely get to the answer, interviewers are looking to hear your thought process
Tom Forsyth@im @ruba You shouldn't have to memorize much. The main thing about the quadratic solution equation is not knowing what it is - you can look that up on wikipedia - it's knowing that you need to look up the section on catastrophic cancellation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratic_equation#Avoiding_loss_of_significance
@TomF see, that's what i'd like to focus on, but I worry I'll just be asked "intersect an AABB and a plane" and knowing my memory, I'll come up blank
@ruba OK, so what? So do all your fellow applicants. How do you cope with "I can't remember for shit"? That's what matters.
@TomF be charming and distract with good jokes :D but in seriousness, that's why I asked :) for preparation and such. also, the memory aspect has been getting noticeably *a lot* worse for me, don't know if it's long covid or what, so I'm a bit worried!
@TomF I also initially asked because I saw an old post somewhere saying this is how graphics interviews go and was wondering if that advice still stands
Sebastian Schöner@ruba @TomF excellent advice from Tom. To add to that: it's the norm that you don't know all answers, not the exception. The best interviewers know that you are most likely very nervous and they currently wield incredible power over your future.
For the line-intersection thing: as an interviewer, I'd be perfectly happy if you start by drawing out lines, consider different cases, walk me through your thinking, tell me what to consider for the implementation. (I'm not a graphics programmer!)