A little more than a year ago, we wrote about an Australian hobbyist named Bruce Dell who was claiming--with video evidence to back it up--that he’d created a new graphics technology that could deliver unlimited power. That is, rather than working with a limited number of polygon shapes (restricted, of course, by computing power), a graphic environment could be built from an infinite number of 3-D virtual atoms, much like the physical world. It was a cool idea. Then Dell and his Unlimited Detail graphics system disappeared.
Now Dell is back with a company called Euclideon and a new video describing the progress he’s made on his software over the last year. And again, it looks pretty impressive if completely unverifiable.
The idea, on its face, doesn’t sound impossible. Basically, Unlimited Detail eschews the usual polygon shape construction for a point-cloud construction for his virtual environments. But an infinite number of 3-D atoms would require an infinite amount of computing power to render. Even a small number of detailed point-cloud objects would require tons of computational wherewithal.
Unlimited Detail circumvents the computing power problem, Dell says, by acting like a search engine that figures out, in real time, which points need to be rendered to create a certain view from a certain perspective. So only the “atoms” that are being viewed in a given frame from a certain perspective are actually rendered at any given time. The rest go un-rendered in the background. Less rendering means less computing power consumed.
In the video below, Dell describes in perfect exhilarated-Aussie just how awesome this technology could make our video game worlds and other virtual environments. Unlimited Detail can now pack one million atoms into a single virtual cubic inch, allowing for unprecedented detail. And it could make such environments less virtual, allowing game designers to “scan” in objects from the real world and present them as they look naturally, making video game worlds a kind of hybrid reality with some parts real and some parts engineered by artists.
This is all assuming that Unlimited Detail really works. Dell and company are still keeping a lot of secrets and have said they’ll probably go quiet again after this one-year progress report so they can finish up their work. So, once again, you’ll have to judge for yourself.
natural progression of 3D engines. i bet it will take decades for developers to adapt it. who cares, just play good games. living in the future doesn't have to be all :(
if it's possible, it would be a tremendous workhorse. The reason things are made polygons is so they can be rendered FAST. When he's showing the FPS with the bones (Crysis?) look how fast he can move and spin around, and the comp has no problem rendering the visuals fast enough to do that. It's true that artists need to make concessions to make that happen, but honestly I don't find modern polygon images to be bad enough to be distracting. I think they're pretty good.
Also, of all the people to be making a post about modern graphics...
16 bit is classic. But bits have nothing to do with games and the Clinton years are over.
post by arilliusbm at Aug 3,2011 5:48pm edited Aug 3,2011 5:49pm
Doesnt matter. Video games and reality simulations. Someone has to draw the line between emulating reality and playing a simple game. I will do whatever it takes to engrave that into rttp's minds, regardless of being a broken record.
post by DestroyYouAlot at Aug 3,2011 5:50pm edited Aug 3,2011 5:50pm
Unlimited Detail circumvents the computing power problem, Dell says, by acting like a search engine that figures out, in real time, which points need to be rendered to create a certain view from a certain perspective. So only the “atoms” that are being viewed in a given frame from a certain perspective are actually rendered at any given time. The rest go un-rendered in the background. Less rendering means less computing power consumed.
Which is why all 3D engines do this, already. Next.
Someone has to draw the line between emulating reality and playing a simple game.
i think that line will always be drawn. there are more indie developers than ever and some are making great games. this game is getting glowing reviews.
Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I would be the only one in this forum who designed a 3D split-based rendering polygon engine from scratch. 1999 was a hell of a year.
As an aspiring game developer, I totally don't give a fuck about graphics. Most of the games that I enjoy would be just as good with low-res sprite graphics (or fucking ASCII, even). Even the 3D titles could look like HL1 for all I care, it's all about the fucking GAMEPLAY. If if don't work while it looks like shit, it don't work.
Tech demo for the Unreal Engine, supposedly running in real time but using 3 graphics cards processing together. Dunno if that's true, but it's still amazing regardless.
