Unlimited Detail wants to KILL graphics cards

[maddogx 13]

One thing I expect to be very difficult with this method is semi-transparency, i.e. opacity <1 and >0. Without transparancy you're obviously just gathering image data for WIDTH x HEIGHT points on every frame, so performance is only affected by the size of the rendering window and the efficiency of the search algorithm. So when playing at 1920x1200 the engine would need to gather data for just over 2.3 million points on every frame (1 point per pixel), no matter what is visible. Sounds doable.

Transparency would add another level of complexity though, because then you're not just looking for 1 point per pixel, but several. Imagine a thin sheet of semi-darkened glass between the camera and the background. Now the renderer has to grab information from at least two points per pixel, effectively doubling the computational requirements. At least if I understand the method correctly.

If I'm right, transparency will be a major problem in the "Unlimited Detail" engine, to the point where particle effects may not even be possible. I wonder what they're planning in that regard. None of their videos so far have touched on the topic.

[Baff1 0]

Once he said it was the same type of system the Voxel engine used I knew where I was.

Delta Force games.

[Flash Thunder 10]

Hurry up an redo your logo its retarded looking! Anyone agree?

Yeah I wonder how particle effects and transparency will work with this tech.

[norsu 180]

Also not to mention mirrors and render to texture type things. But all that is still very interesting. If you can see through the bad art style and repeating presentation, you can see that the potential is there.

[max power 21]

Mirrors and rtt type things are still only 1 point per pixel.

[-FHA-Dynamo 0]

Mirrors and rtt type things are still only 1 point per pixel.

exactly. with this system it would only render the points on your screen.

for me it would be 1680x1050 or 1,764,000 points. it wouldnt matter if you had mirrors or transparent parts, or other effects, it's still 1.76 million points/frame.

i can't wait for the first game to use this.

even if the first few games are not really good, i would still buy them to help support this tech.

[IronTrooper 0]

Dynamo;1608316']exactly. with this system it would only render the points on your screen.

for me it would be 1680x1050 or 1' date='764,000 points. [/quote']

I think you're seeing this too simply. You could say exactly the same about ray-tracing. What matters is how the engine finds the displayed points.

Dynamo;1608316']

it wouldnt matter if you had mirrors or transparent parts' date=' or other effects, it's still 1.76 million points/frame.

[/quote']

Transparency would definitely matter. MadDogX explained why.

If the developer needs funds he should atleast show all necessary graphic practices. Also the point cloud artifacts we've seen are not a result of a bad art work.

[Nanthaka 10]

The video stated that it was a geometry demo and to imagine what a professional art team could come up with using this technology. This is going to be huge.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

This is going to be huge.

Somehow, I doubt that.

[ziiip 1]

I agree, there is no way this isnt going to be a blast.