Unlimited Detail Real-Time Rendering Technology - Perhaps the future of 3D graphics?

[Annoying Turd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00gAbgBu8R4&feature=player_embedded

The demo does not display any animation; it's just static environments rendered in realtime.

Still, that voxel technology enables phenomenal detail in games with unlimited polygon counts. You can even see detailed grass and dirt particles on the landscape, unlike crysis where the grass is still ultimately 2d and flat.

I doubt we will be seeing this type of detail incorporated in games running in this generation of machines, so perhaps in the near future. What do you guys think?

 

[ZeroMachine]

Interesting, VERY interesting, but how would they react with a physics system? Everything there was so static that it didn't feel as realistic as they wanted people to think.

I definitely can't wait to see what other companies can do with this, though.

 

[Annoying Turd]

Interesting, VERY interesting, but how would they react with a physics system? Everything there was so static that it didn't feel as realistic as they wanted people to think.

I definitely can't wait to see what other companies can do with this, though.

I'm also hoping that this technology will enable even more realistic physics... by tagging multiple, varying physics properties to discrete atoms etc.

 

[nexekho]

You just posted this once, and it's already been posted about once already less than a day ago.

 

[bob1052]

It can convert current systems into it so it shouldn't require a ridiculous amount of work to incorporate it into a game (compared to current amounts of work for top of the line graphics in games, which is already sucking up a lot of resources and money for companies) so it should be fairly easy for AAA studios to incorporate it into their game.

 

[Annoying Turd]

You just posted this once, and it's already been posted about once already less than a day ago.

sorry when I posted it the first time, I got a network_error error

 

[Annoying Turd]

It can convert current systems into it so it shouldn't require a ridiculous amount of work to incorporate it into a game (compared to current amounts of work for top of the line graphics in games, which is already sucking up a lot of resources and money for companies) so it should be fairly easy for AAA studios to incorporate it into their game.

I still doubt it will be that easy. Carmack himself has this to say about it: http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/statuses/98127398683422720

 

[nexekho]

It's voxels. Technology that was abandoned because the memory usage increases at a cubic rate as the detail increases. Main limiting factor on consoles IS memory. Their demo shows no animation, lighting, moving objects, specular highlights, blending, effects beyond a basic mirror likely done using raytrace or two render passes. The ambient occlusion at the end does not count as lighting. It's full-scene shadowing with no light sources.

Don't get excited. None of the above is feasible in "months". It's not feasible for consoles. Look how much they're duplicating their geometry for that island. Show me 30 unique 1x1x1m items at that detail level in a scene on this engine in 256Mb of RAM (it's software, thus VRAM is useless on PS3), and I'll take my words back.

Also, Notch agrees.
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/8386977075/its-a-scam

 

[-AC80-]

i see this only being possible once we hit super conductive computers or the g/cpu hardware of 10-20 years from now for it to be introduced into games.

 

[Jared Domenico]

This may be all well and good, but can current generation console/midrange PC hardware actually run it effectively?

 

[MajWound]

This may be all well and good, but can current generation console/midrange PC hardware actually run it effectively?

No.

None of those "Unlimited Detail" objects were interacting with each other. It's like one frame of a beautiful world frozen in time. Yes, it looks gorgeous, but it's nothing more than a fancy diorama. When I see an orc decapitate an elf in as much detail at 23 FPS, I'll buy.

 

[Jimbo1212]

Sounds suspect. Why would a tiny company have stumbled upon such a massive break through? Also the 25% increase in polygons in just bullshit as DX 11 tessellation increase polygon count by the thousands.

 

[Cheesus333]

I can't help but feel a little skeptical, but still... this looks bloody impressive. Like a few people have mentioned though, simulating physics on these particles is gonna be a *****.

 

[viranimus]

Ok... I have to question. Is it that the technology isnt viable or is it that weve not considered how the technology could in fact be used.

Remember back in the PSX era where you had two very different engines in most standard games. A cut scene engine and a gameplay engine.

Perhaps this could be utilized again for cut scene creation. Much like people have mentioned the limitations of it are centered around the processing power, and how much is used. This could give developers the tools to craft extremely detailed scenes and switch back to more traditional polygon based textures for mechanics engines.


Granted these claims might not be the most truthful however... this technology used to the right end might well be a revolution.

 

[keinechance]

Ok... I have to question. Is it that the technology isnt viable or is it that weve not considered how the technology could in fact be used.

Remember back in the PSX era where you had two very different engines in most standard games. A cut scene engine and a gameplay engine.

Perhaps this could be utilized again for cut scene creation. Much like people have mentioned the limitations of it are centered around the processing power, and how much is used. This could give developers the tools to craft extremely detailed scenes and switch back to more traditional polygon based textures for mechanics engines.


Granted these claims might not be the most truthful however... this technology used to the right end might well be a revolution.

They have an interview with Euclideon here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVB1ayT6Fdc