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In the Forums... |
Posted: October 11, 1999 Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy More on Transform A dedicated transform engine doesn't just let you use more polygons and details in a scene. It handles rotation, scaling, and translation of 3D objects without sucking up CPU resources. Before, games may have been limited in such aspects of fixed camera views, polygon count, and object detail simply because the computer lacked the power. Now objects can be displayed, moved, rotated, and scaled without passing through the already busy CPU.
Here's one more shot for you to chew on, for now.
This is a fire engine that is made of around 100,000 triangles. Notice the incredible detail of all the objects that stick out from the vehicle. The mirrors, lights, bars, sirens, horns, etc. are all finally 3D instead of a texture. And this model is simply shaded... there are no real textures present to add to the detail. Imagine a fully textured fire engine this size blasting across your screen, smoothly! Lighting Besides the eight "free" (free meaning there is virtually no performance hit when enabled) hardware lights that the GeForce 256 offers, the lighting engine will improve performance and add incredible features that previously only existed in our imagination.
There is nothing new about shadows. Most of you know enough about real time shadows and even stencil buffered shadows to recognize this as an old feature. Now shadows will be done without much CPU interaction, saving once again on resources and leading to better performance.
An even more impressive image is presented when real light sources are added to a scene. Since the NVIDIA GeForce 256 adds these with virtually no performance hit, expect to see plenty of such objects in future games. These aren't lightmaps, but rather real time, hardware light sources. Add textures (right image) and you have an absolutely wonderful scene. Notice how realistic the wall, pillars, and shadows look. Even the floor looks as if it was actually there, right in front of your eyes.  If you move out a bit, the depth of the wall will appear. Now that is 3D! |
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