PD: We have implemented a protocol and a couple of tools for students who are interested in interacting with us ahead of the official application timeframe, as we recommend in our tips for students. For more information, take a look here.

YafaRay (Yet Another Free Raytracer) is a FOSS raytracing engine. Raytracing is a rendering technique for generating realistic images by tracing the path of light through a 3D scene. A render engine consists of a "faceless" computer program that interacts with a host 3D application to provide raytracing capabilities on demand. The YafaRay engine is intended as a free open source alternative to known proprietary engines such as Vray or MentalRay. The YafaRay project was started in 2001 by Alejandro Conty Estévez.

By general request from the Blender Community, YafaRay was added as a Blender plugin in August 2004. YafaRay was rewritten from scratch in 2006 by Mathias Wein to allow for new modern features. The YafaRay project has become through the years the first and most popular GPL raytracer and an important reference for the Blender Community, averaging 10.000 downloads and 40.000 unique visitors a month in 2009.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The YafaRay Gallery is the best definition of what YafaRay does, and explains why it is relevant for many people:

YafaRay Gallery

Room 18 by Xelptic