Unlmited Point Cloud Data

[xcel]

This video is exciting news for the graphics field. Thought I'd share it.
(If only Planetside 2 were to have this...)

[krnasaur]

this is exciting, but I wondering what made them be able to just POOF unlimited graphical detail, and if it is so good, why not just give it to the developers now?

[Rbstr]

I read the title as "unlimited cloud point data" and was really confused why anyone on PSU would care about cloud points.

[Krowe]

Notch gave a very good explanation as to why its not genuine.

[BorisBlade]

Originally Posted by Krowe

Notch gave a very good explanation as to why its not genuine.

Well his explaination sounded more like super closed minded and gonna find any old way to say its wrong no matter what. And im not sure why so many people really listen to someone debunkin new graphics tech when its comin from someone who made a game with graphics that look like they came from 1982.

And they dont really mean "unlimited" literally, so those debunkin it say "you cant really do unlimied", well duh. But they mean they can do an ass load of em thats obnoxiously beyond polygon tech that its near limitless in comparison. People have to realize that with current graphics tech progression we are gettin into the territory to where some other approaches to 3d will be possible that were unthinkable a decade ago. There are some voxel tech ideas and other point style ideas out there as well, these guys arent alone. This could easily be totally legit.

Having said that, they could be legit but only in what they specifically say it does. But they dont mention how well it works with animation, advanced effects/lighting or how it works with physics etc. So at this point maybe you can do all they say but not with these other aspects. Remember that current graphical effects are designed for a polygon world, so maybe not all of them would work with this approach, plus we dont know the limits of this new way of processing either.

Either way its interesting, prob fairly legit, but still a ways off from being able to do a full fledged game imo with all the other aspects they havent mentioned yet.

[Krowe]

Originally Posted by BorisBlade

Well his explaination sounded more like super closed minded and gonna find any old way to say its wrong no matter what. And im not sure why so many people really listen to someone debunkin new graphics tech when its comin from someone who made a game with graphics that look like they came from 1982.

So by that logic, someone who only works on classic cars will have no idea how to work on a 2011 model? I'm sorry but that comment was just dumb. If you actually read what Notch said, then it makes complete sense. Also notice how nothing moves at all in any of the videos, which also enforces the idea that it is just repeated chunks.

Oh, and guess what also uses repeatable chunks?

[roastduck]

At it's current level, I could see this tech being good for cinematics, but not actual game worlds. The physics needed to run all those particles would induce a riot in the skynet computers needed to run it. Actually, I think that might be what causes Skynet's eventual destruction of our race. Some lab tech tried to run a game with this tech on his workstation.

[Elude]

Notch was not debunking the technology lol he was just pointing out that these guys in particular were asking for funding for something they claimed was a new technology which it is not. His words were that it was a scam, not the technology itself but the people behind this particular video.

I frankly don't care what he said or who these people are or what they plan to do, but the truth is we already use voxels in games today, volumetrics are a wonderful thing but they are by no means a replacement for polygons.

[MgFalcon]

So you know polygons right? Well this little article exemplifies why we don't necessarily need them anymore with what they are calling atoms - making unlimited detail come forth in the smallest grains of sand (vid in links shows this in close up).

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/91...more-unlimited

[Crator]

Yup, another post already started on this subject: Unlimited Point Cloud Data

[Senyu]

Check out the interview if you have 40 minutes to kill. Adds another side plus perspective from the creators. Also address's things such as Notch calling it fake. Good watch.

[Elude]

Volumetric detail that's what that is, while he didn't particularly use the word he clearly described it when he mentioned the ability to optimize for any system at the free will of a button which reduces the amount of atom points. The only difference between his so called technology and that of others is his algorithm to adjust how many atom points there are on an object depending on how many pixels the said object fills on the screen (suggesting that performance is mostly based on how many pixels your monitor can display). This could arguably be compared to the current method of LOD for polygons without having to model several versions of a mesh, after all an object further away would obviously be using less pixels, thus less atom points then one close up.

I'm curious as to how the conversion works for textures and UVMaps, why would a volumetric system such as this require textures or UV maps? Would it be possible for artist to simply paint specific colors in very small areas without any type of UV coordinates? After all these are not stretched flat triangles but actual individual points (I would assume each point could be colored separately). Many games today that use polygons have the ability to paint on a model but the model requires a UV map and a great amount of vertices for it to look right.

I have no doubt this will be used in the future, as I said before we're already pushing for things to be more volumetric in games, starting with many types of particle effects like clouds, smoke, and fire. It's only a matter of time before we see it being used for solid objects (more specifically terrain). But I do not think it will replace polygons, I have a hard time imagining a full body IK rig influencing the movement of a volumetric object without the assist of polygons, unless perhaps the polygons them self were used simply as a skeleton for the rig to animate with volumetric details on top of it.

Anyway here is an impressive video of another volumetric based engine, though I'm pretty sure the truck driving around is made of polygons lol.

[Senyu]

So im excited for this.



Sidenote, those that are heavily skeptics on this, there is a 44 minute interview explaining more. And its not a money grabbing scheme considering they already got enough grant money to finish it and are refusing any more. Though I agree the guy does sound kinda douchey.

[Crator]

Couple threads started on this already:

Unlmited Point Cloud Data

Unlimited detail?!

[DviddLeff]

I think I remember seeing Minecrafts' Notch saying it was bullshit.