ModsFinder

Photonics: A raytracing engine

by Redi2Go

Photonics is a Fabric shader mod that draws Minecraft with a ray-traced voxel engine, built around shadows and lighting.

FabricClient-side onlyAll rights reserved1.20.1 – 1.21.11

What it does

Photonics replaces the standard rendering of blocks with a ray-traced voxel engine. Its stated focus is performance together with sharp shadows, and it works through the Iris Shaders pipeline, so Iris Shaders must be installed alongside it.

Fabric API and Mod Menu are required dependencies. The mod is Fabric-only, with files for 1.20.1 – 1.21.11 across eight release versions; the latest file is 0.3.4+1.21.11 for 1.21.11, published on 2026-03-28 on the alpha channel. It is released under All rights reserved and is not open source.

Key features

  1. Ray-traced voxel rendering

    Lighting and shadows are computed by tracing rays through a voxel representation of the world.

  2. Crisp shadow output

    The engine is tuned for sharp shadow edges rather than soft, blurred falloff.

  3. Shader pack integration

    Photonics runs inside Iris Shaders, and a number of shader packs are listed as compatible with it through its own shader pipeline.

  4. Hardware raytracing not used

    The engine does not use hardware raytracing, because Minecraft's OpenGL base does not support it.

Compatibility

Latest build for each game version and loader.

No stable releases
Every published file is a beta or alpha build.
1.21.110.3.4+1.21.11
1.21.100.2.9
1.21.80.2.9
1.21.40.2.9
1.21.10.2.9
1.20.60.2.3
1.20.40.2.5
1.20.10.2.5
ReleaseBetaAlphaNot available

Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.

Requirements

Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.

Required 3

Iris ShadersA modern shader pack loader for Minecraft intended to be compatible with existing OptiFine shader packs
Required
Mod MenuAdds a mod menu to view the list of mods you have installed.
Required
Fabric APILightweight and modular API providing common hooks and intercompatibility measures utilized by mods using the Fabric toolchain.
Required

Questions

Does Photonics need Iris Shaders?

Yes. Iris Shaders is a required dependency, and Photonics is used through its shader pipeline.

Is Photonics stable enough for regular play?

The mod is still in alpha, so players should expect defects and conflicts. Changes to rendering or chunk loading in other mods can also affect it.

Which versions does Photonics support?

Files exist for 1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.6, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.8, 1.21.10 and 1.21.11, as Fabric builds only.

In the catalog

Photonics: A raytracing engine is one of 8,499 Technology mods on ModsFinder, and one of 4,201 Technology mods for Fabric. 19,862 mods support Minecraft 1.21.11.

Technology mods8,499Fabric modsMods for 1.21.1119,862

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Official listing

Owner
Redi2Go
Published
2024-05-17
Updated on Modrinth
2026-03-28
Facts verified
2026-10-15

Tags

TechnologyDecoration
Open on ModrinthCompare