Unlimited Detail

[FrozenBacon]

clicky

I decided to post this here instead of any other forum because this isn't just a gaming thing.

This guy is talking about how he made a system that allows an unlimited amount of point cloud data appear on the screen through a search algorithm, completely eliminating the need for polygons. It is all done through software so graphic accelerators are not needed.

He hints at the fact that his talks with Nvidia and ATI aren't looking promising because this software threatens their business at the core. If this is going to go anywhere, I can see it happening with Intel. Personally, if I was this dude, I would just go open source with it.

It appears people have concerns over how this could be translated into animation and whatnot, but if it gets big enough people will find a way. It is nowhere near impossible, there are already tools out there that convert to and from cloud point data.

 

[De-Ting]

Your Porygon has evolved into Porygon-2!

 

[intoTheRain]

for some reason it's completely useless and will never apply to video games..

i dont know the reason, but i heard it when i read this article 35 days ago, and it sounded legit.

in b4 someone else explains it. i just wanted to say i knew beforehand!

thanks,

good luck

 

[FrozenBacon]

After searching google for the company CEO's name, I came across what I think to be an e-mail that someone received:

Thank you for your interest in Unlimited Detail,

We are at present building the commercial SDK and Demonstrations.

The planned form of the SDK is as follows:

IMPORT OF DATA:
Data can be imported from a variety of sources. We expect to directly
support some popular scanning and modelling applications and file
formats for both point cloud and polygon style data. The SDK will
provide a simple way to import data from any source.

ENGINE:
The Unlimited Detail Engine displays 3D models or groups of models
which may be positioned, rotated, scaled and viewed from any direction
and with any projection. The technique allows geometry of unlimited
complexity to be displayed at interactive frame rates without the need
for 3D acceleration hardware.

ANIMATION:
Unlimited Detail supports Animation. (Please see attached video clip
of an articulated bird. And remember this is a simple first attempt
for R&D purposes so it doesn’t look “polishedâ€

 

[MikeyVassallo]

Seems like a whole lot of nothing so far.

 

[FrozenBacon]

for some reason it's completely useless and will never apply to video games..

i dont know the reason, but i heard it when i read this article 35 days ago, and it sounded legit.

in b4 someone else explains it. i just wanted to say i knew beforehand!

thanks,

good luck

Probably a lot of speculation. I've seen a lot of skepticism towards this, but it is filled with a lot of "probablys" and "might bes", going off of old technology and completely disregarding that this is something new (if the creators aren't bullshiting us). I'm hoping for the best till they come out with some sort of executable for everyone to use.

I mean the internet is filled with people who think they know what they are talking about, after all.

 

[10000_Squirrels]

Well... I don't know, the way they're planning on using it seems like it would be very subject to lag in games with, say, cameras you can spin fast. If it only renders the points viewable by the camera, then spinning around fast (say, when someone sneaks up on you in an FPS) then logic would say that rendering a whole new screen of points would be slow. Would I be right in assuming that, or am I just being incredibly thick?

 

[FrozenBacon]

^It has to redraw the scene so many times every second regardless. You know, fps and all that? They are saying it doesn't matter how many points are needed, it'll render at the same speed.

 

[madster111]

They are saying it doesn't matter how many points are needed, it'll render at the same speed.

Impossible.

 

[LinksOcarina]

nothing is impossible, it's just not discovered yet.

Although I don't know the limitations to computer graphic technology so I can't really comment. But if this is a plausible and working engine, it could basically eradicate the further updating of graphics on systems and actually make processing power and memory a focus.

And in terms of video games, gameplay.

 

[NickKmet]

so essentially, it has a computer algorithm that figures out exactly what points it needs to render each frame in order to complete the picture in each frame. It doesn't create a 3-D environment, but rather collects data to form a snapshot of the environment for each frame. It's like taking a series of photographs. That's pretty cool, and must have been damned complicated to figure out. It'll be interesting to see if this takes off.

 

[used44]

nothing is impossible

Okay, Mom.

 

[madster111]

Nothing is impossible

Ugh getting laid by Megan Fox, Emma Watson and Elton John, at the same time, on a private jet made out of solid gold.

 

[De-Ting]

Nothing is impossible

Ugh getting laid by Megan Fox, Emma Watson and Elton John, at the same time, on a private jet made out of solid gold.

Somebody's gonna Rule 34 that now.

 

[miak757]

Nothing is impossible

Ugh getting laid by Megan Fox, Emma Watson and Elton John, at the same time, on a private jet made out of solid gold.

Somebody's gonna Rule 34 that now.

Oh god.

 

[Eyebrowsbv31]

Nothing is impossible

Ugh getting laid by Megan Fox, Emma Watson and Elton John, at the same time, on a private jet made out of solid gold.

It could happen, ugh could get hit by megan fox's car, and "laid" to rest at his funeral by her, and the solid gold plane doesnt have to a. be flying or b. very big, and they both dont have to be concious.

save us from that rule.

 

[kingg5]

Your Porygon has evolved into Porygon-2!

A good ol pokemon jokes anyone know what happened to grammasumthing sumthing