Unlimited Detail Technology

Thoughts?

Unlimited graphics power, he said? I gotta say, I'm skeptical.

There are three videos in total, if you click the links on the video, you can get more details.

I distrust links.

Hey, if it works then I'm all in! Might mean that gamers could play monsters like Crysis on their towers more easily, which is a definite plus for the game producers as well.

They just lead to other youtube videos.

I want to play with this system.

This guy seriously needs to get a proper artist to put together a demonstration that doesn't just look like a bunch of cloudy mushrooms in the middle of an abstract garden.

edited 27th Mar '11 7:39:13 PM by DonZabu

The towers of aliens from Spore look impressive. Now let's see a practical tech demo.

Yeah, a good tech demo would be something that looks more like a game, most likely. Let people walk around through a house, for instance.

The issue with the tech demos they have here is simply that it's, like he said, programmer art. A lot of it is based off of classic fractals and pilsner noise.

Additionally, there are a lot of groups that have done something similar. One that seems a little more down-to-earth is the Atomontage group.

edited 27th Mar '11 7:59:55 PM by GoggleFox

If this ever gets used in a game, I somehow doubt it'll catch on. The potentials there for CGI movies, though...

This reminds me of the .kkrieger demo.

Should not just rename it to Point Cloud Search Data, and short it pcsd-tech?
Besides: This shit got NO credibility until we can test it and it works.

Well, they are trying to get it tested, but most companies won't see them, I guess.

Hmmm, looks good, but like other people, I'll believe it when I see it in more than just a bit of scenery of the afterlife in What Dreams May Come.

edited 28th Mar '11 6:45:40 AM by Ralphrius

There's no point. Polygons can do almost anything voxels can, they're much easier to use and switching to voxels will require entirely new technology and completely rethinking 3D modeling. Everyone from game developers to CG animators will have to adjust.

And how is this "unlimited"?

edited 28th Mar '11 7:15:53 AM by Redhead

Well, there is nothing wrong with a bit of adjustment. Especially if it proves beneficial in the long run.

"A bit" is a bit of an understatement.

Unlimited Graphics Works?

King of modelers, do you have enough polygons?

Here's Atomontage:

I myself am waiting for a legitimate Havok-like physics engine in voxel.

edited 28th Mar '11 7:38:31 AM by DonZabu

^^ Good answer, or best answer? :p

Anyhow, voxels actually take a lot less processing power than polygon rendering, so no, I don't think we're likely to see any massive need for context switching or refiguring all our technology for it. Voxels are not a new technology. I'm curious to see what their "search algorithm" looks like, since they're keeping it tightly under wraps, and since I haven't seen anything by these guys outside of those videos, and their site is marked by google as "possibly compromised," I'm doubtful. My initial excitement is rather dampened by all this, plus the fact that many of their renders are clearly fractal-based (which admittedly makes things look more impressive, but isn't a good model for realistic data sets).

Atomontage is currently working with voxels for one very big reason — physics modeling. You can't do accurate point-by-point modeling of physics in a polygon-based system, it just isn't reasonable. Polygons are all surface. Voxels let you handle materials through the entire volume of a substance, and you can arrange your algorithms to massively decrease the processing cost using a few tricks — mostly ignoring physics on voxels that aren't affected at present, or handling groups of them at a time rather than treating them as entirely separate.

The guy (yes, singular) behind Atomontage also seems rather more humble, so I guess I'm more inclined to trust him.

edited 28th Mar '11 7:41:10 AM by GoggleFox

POWAH!!!! UNLIMITED POWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited 28th Mar '11 9:00:08 AM by Ronnie

leaving this here.

I'm going to bed soon. I'll get back to everyone in the morning.

We have two threads on this.I suggest we lock this one and use the one entitled "Euclideon's New Engine"? link to the other one here.

edited 12th Aug '11 5:31:23 PM by TheOneWhoTropes

Heck of a lot less skeptical now. There's a working engine and he's actually maneuvering through it with a controller/keyboard.

Fair enough, I guess we have to wait a few more years before we see this stuff at E3 or something but hey I'm a lot more receptive now.

unLIMITED detail should be their motto though. It's practically a verbal tic for the guy.

The programmer art is really awful, but it's clear there's a lot of detail there. Individually rendered trees and stones is awesome. If this requires relearning how to program in 3D, well, once that learning curve is jumped, it could result in amazing graphics. All systems capable of rendering this will have identical graphical power, so that comparison in the future will become meaningless.