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The thing that people forget is that HL2's art direction was amazing. I can't think of another title in recent memory that had a higher level of visual cohesiveness on a reasonable polybudget. For example, darkness consistently equals safety throughout the game, whereas any point you're exposed to sunlight is a location shrouded in danger. This is consistent both internally and externally. No-one, to my knowledge, has followed this color styling, yet it is an effective technique at making the player feel like an unwelcome outcast.

You can see how minimalist this tree really is. They only gave it just enough branches to cover the illusion, but not so many that it holds up to actual inspection. Another shot of said tree, from a more common angle. By not wasting any polys, they really can afford to put more on-screen. Heck, look at leaves. Artificially close, they are a big smear. But from the distance you normally see them, they can stick thousands of these things on screen, and they look beautiful.

Love the look of brick? Notice how in this shot they've burned the bump maps and damage maps and everything into the same texture? The increases the repetition in texture, but if you vary your geometry sufficiently the player will never notice. All they'll notice is a lot more is going on on-screen than they're used to. This technique looks terrible for big-open walls, but Half Life studiosly avoids big open walls within proximity of the player.

They even used a distinct pallete of blacks, muted browns, and light blues. This was far before anyone else was using anything but super-saturated primary colors.

Ignoring any technical accomplishments, this is an achievement of strong visual composition and consistent, solid art direction.

Try the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.

There are not one but two such displays at Seattle Sci-Fi Museum http://www.sfhomeworld.org/ One of them uses four projectors to project movie clips on a large sphere. I'm not sure about the second one since there are not projectors around (I suspect there is one inside) but it shows the surfaces of famous sci-fi planets. You can see this one at http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/brave_new_worl ds/index.asp

There are not one but two such displays at Seattle Sci-Fi Museum http://www.sfhomeworld.org/ One of them uses four projectors to project movie clips on a large sphere. I'm not sure about the second one since there are not projectors around (I suspect there is one inside) but it shows the surfaces of famous sci-fi planets. You can see this one at http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/brave_new_worl ds/index.asp

I imagine Paul Allen will end up purchasing a healthy amount of these items, and that they will end up in his Science Fiction Museum, which is really just a showcase of his crazy personal collection anyway. Hey, at least he's sharing it with us, though. Even if it is for the low-low price of $12.95 per visit.

It might be fun to put a bid in, just so you can say that you went up against Paul Allen on eBay.

Chip H.

The exhibit is the spacedock which features a couple of these displays in a touchscreen configuration. It allows you to look at several popular sci-fi spaceships like an imperial star destroyer and the reddwarf.

Obligatory link http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/fantastic_voya ges/index.asp

I have seen some of the earlier "3D" displays at stores and have typically been dissapointed with the performance. The screens they use at the museum are definitely a better representation of what this type of tech can do.

Sorry about that, the official Science Fiction Museum website is: http://www.sfhomeworld.org/

It's pretty clear from the display that the intention is to add people to the SFHOF over time. If you look on the website here there's a good explanation of the process. And note that it wasn't Allen or the SFM advisory board that made these selections, but rather this was done by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in Kansas City; SFM is now the permanent repository for that collection, and no doubt worthy personages such as Dick will get their due in good time.