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The Future Of 3D

tlb writes: "I found an article regarding the future of 3D at Beachside Tech. The article discussed 3D is movies and the internet as well as video games. It seems interactive 3D objects are becoming more popular for web use. There's also some history in it, and some info on technologies from Nvidia."

98 comments

  1. I say we boycott Nvidia... by szcx · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... until they give us text-mode 3D acceleration. Lynx users wont be ignored!

    1. Re:I say we boycott Nvidia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what with the game 0verkill, text mode 3d acceleration would be really useful.

    2. Re:I say we boycott Nvidia... by DaRiachu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      szcx: Although you meant that to be whimsical, I'm seriously wondering how you could get that to work. I've seen textmode Quake, but I've heard all that is is a skin for Quake. Is there a way to make a 3d textmode thing? Like old ASCII-type graphics, only 3d? I wonder...

      ...If it was, what demographic would use it? I guess two different kinds: People that would be like, "Whoa, cool!" and those of us who remember the old days of ASCII art before JPEGs and CompuServe GIFs. Heh.

      That'd be fun. I'd buy that kind of product.

      PS: I guess if it was in more than one color, that'd be cool too ;-)

    3. Re:I say we boycott Nvidia... by fredrik70 · · Score: 1

      Believe SGI had something like that that turned .mov files into ASCII pics. Never seen it working myself.
      It was a little toy program that one of their employees had written in his spare time....IIRC

      --
      if (!signature) { throw std::runtime_error("No sig!"); }
    4. Re:I say we boycott Nvidia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      been on the website

      it's very poor

      ok the text may be fine
      but the website is just

      poor

      it sort of depressed me. I don't know why.

    5. Re:I say we boycott Nvidia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The mac os, being foreward-thinking in every way, has already had this for a while:

      Say hello to Ascii Mac.

      Now try running quake with it...

  2. Haven't you seen the new Zelda previews?? by kypper · · Score: 2

    3D is going away for a while, bayyy-beee.

    Seems bigger better faster is too mainstream for us folk.

    1. Re:Haven't you seen the new Zelda previews?? by Kalani · · Score: 1

      Uh ... the new Zelda is played in a space of three dimensions. The only thing that's different about it is that it uses a toon renderer for the rasterization/T&L step.

      --
      ___
      The ends are ape-chosen, only the means are man's. -- Aldous Huxley
  3. Minor Warning by Anonymous+DWord · · Score: 2, Informative

    White text on a beige background, so bring your spectacles. Oh, and you need JS on. Or you could just type in
    http://www.beachsidetech.com/perfection1.htm
    perfection2.htm etc.

    --
    "If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
    1. Re:Minor Warning by ethereal · · Score: 1

      That site definitely has some design issues. The section headings on the left like "Home" and "Articles" don't work, and there's no way to click "next page", you just have to select each next page manually.

      Not to mention the quality of the writing was pretty amateurish IMHO. And not in a good way, either :)

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  4. He forgot the tnt... by Cheetah86 · · Score: 1

    In his nvidia section he only lists the riva chipset and then jumps to the geforce in the next section. He completely forgot about the rivatnt and the rivatnt2(and all of its related chipsets like the ultra and m64)

  5. True 3D by Francis · · Score: 0, Troll

    As nice as Quake 3 is, it still isn't truly 3D. "WTF, who the hell is this moron! Q3 is 3D!!" you're probably screaming at your monitor, and getting a glare by your family members. But, it's the truth. Its 3D on 2D. The plane of your monitor's screen is two dimensional.

    According to this definition, it still could be "true 3d". Just pick up an ASUS GeForce Deluxe package. It comes with "3D Stereoscopic glasses" that makes everything appear 3D to your eyes. (It uses one of those high-speed shutters, and syncs with the monitor refresh)

    This has been around for a while - I have an ASUS GeForce (original) card with this feature. Who knows how long it was available before then.

    As nice as Quake 3 is, it still isn't truly 3D. "WTF, who the hell is this moron! Q3 is 3D!!" you're probably screaming at your monitor, and getting a glare by your family members. But, it's the truth. Its 3D on 2D. The plane of your monitor's screen is two dimensional.
    --

    --
    #include <malloc.h>
    free(your.mind);
    1. Re:True 3D by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have the ASUS V7700 Delux. the glasses arnt really that good especially when you are snipering someone you close one eye you got the crosshair right on there head but if you do the same to your other eye the crosshair is beside the guy's head.. anyways it is just confusing. I am still waiting to be "really" in the game where you can move your head 360 degrees and run around and not hit any walls in your room. I guess you would have to do this outside or if holographic technology comes out like the holodeck in star trek.. whatever comes first

    2. Re:True 3D by Cryptnotic · · Score: 1
      Even that isn't "true 3D", since you only get the 3D effect when you're looking straight at the monitor from a predetermined distance. Plus, if I recall correctly, to do it right, you have to calibrate the distance between your left and right eyes.


      Cryptnotic

      --
      My other first post is car post.
  6. Future of nvidia? by snake_dad · · Score: 1
    Now, I know it'll be along time before I can go to my basement and download fully three dimensional porno, although I'm sure many of you dream about it.

    First Yahoo! in the porn industry, and now nvidia as well? :)

    --
    karma capped .sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
  7. Muppets Rule! by Ghoser777 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I remember seeing that 3D-glasses muppet show to, and it gave me a scare every once in a while. It really did trick my eyes into believeing flying debris and miscellaneous muppets were flying right toward my face.

    Maybe if more games like Q3 incorporated this type of 3D into the game, we'd have less "run around like a moron and blow things up cause I'll just come back to life," and more "holy crap that rocket looks like it was about to really come out and hit me; maybe I should watch myslef a little more carefully and develope a more sustainable strategy."

    Or maybe this will lead more Q3 playing grandmas to have heart attacks.

    F-bacher

    --
    James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
    1. Re:Muppets Rule! by Grr · · Score: 1

      Current technology is even more advanced than you imagined! With current 3d graphics you don't even have to be a grandma to scare yourself to death.

  8. In the Future by 6EQUJ5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine if you had a system, where you used two movies, layed one on top of the other. It would look blury of course, but if the viewer were to wear a pair of expensive, high-tech filter glasses (having differently coloured lenses), a stereoscopic 3-D image could be achieved. I bet in 2 years time we could have a working proto-type, and then actually bring it to market within 10 years given the proper funding and agressive marketing.

    --

    1. Re:In the Future by alpha17 · · Score: 0

      Don't differently colored lenses only work for black and white 3D stuff

      you need shutters and the screen to display 2 perspectives between the shutter changes for color 3D

    2. Re:In the Future by mazur · · Score: 1
      Ever better: use a polarised film, with alternating pictures for left and right, and synchronised polarising glasses, thus not distorting any colour information. Oh wait! That already exists. Still a bit expensive at the moment, but Bill should have one.

      But I'm sure prices will go down, eventually.

      Stefan.

      --
      The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
    3. Re:In the Future by 6EQUJ5 · · Score: 2, Funny


      Woa, who said anything about color movies? Sure the Technicolor Corporation claims to be making progress with their techniques, but I seriously doubt that anything will come of it.

      No, what I was thinking of is more of an interactive experience, that's what movie goers want, according to the best research. Think lasers. Think fog machines, right there in the theatre!

      What we need is someone to sell this technology. Someone who's bad... and daring. Someone who can dance, and sing, and get the whole family out for a magical evening together!

      Enter... "CAPTAIN E - O" !!!

      --

    4. Re:In the Future by Uberminky · · Score: 1

      Don't differently colored lenses only work for black and white 3D stuff


      Nope.
      --

      The streets shall flow with the blood of the Guberminky.

    5. Re:In the Future by Conrad5 · · Score: 1

      oh ya! we could just put cheap coloured plastic lenses into cardboard eye glasses. i think the colours of the lens' should be red and blue. we could be RICH!!!

    6. Re:In the Future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These devices already exist. Checkout
      http://www.3-dvideo.com/

    7. Re:In the Future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for explaining the joke to us, genius.

    8. Re:In the Future by Conrad5 · · Score: 1

      check out the posting times mr. brains. looks like it took you 12 hours to get it. or maybe you were just busy with your yeast infection post. in that case, i am sorry.

  9. Synchronicity by blamanj · · Score: 1

    Hmmmm. My cookie for this page: "What people have been reduced to are mere 3-D representations of their own data." -- Arthur Miller

  10. What ever happened with holographics? by mazur · · Score: 1
    I've seen holographic images ages ago, and in my later teens or early twenties envisioned some sort of machinery capable of displaying holographic colour movies by choosing three different material/laser combinations and rolling films of holographic material. How come this never happened? I know the laser setup needed quite some room at the time, but surely progression has been made in that area, hasn't there? So how come there were truly threedimensional (static/monogrammatic) images decennia past, but nothing since? Does anyone know? I mean, I can't be the only one ever to think about it.

    Stefan.

    --
    The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
    1. Re:What ever happened with holographics? by vrmlknight · · Score: 1

      It is getting there actually in Russia their are tying this with a infrared sensors that will detect movement and make an ATM that you don't need to actually touch if I find the link I'll post it or if any one knows anything else about it I'm going on memory

      --
      This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
    2. Re:What ever happened with holographics? by mazur · · Score: 1
      No-one really needs that. Or actually it's the moron majority who has no vision. All they want is beer, tv and big boobs.

      Well, who can argue with that.

      Apart from the boobs, that is, I tend to go for the more modest ones. Melons I prefer from the grocer's and balloons were never my thing. They blow up, you know.

      Stefan.

      --
      The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
    3. Re:What ever happened with holographics? by Charm · · Score: 1
      I was using one of those ATM's but I wasn't feeling myself that day so the ATM didn't recognize me.

      Hasn't the writer of the article ever heard of VR before? Not only that but they assume that the compter 3D revolution started with the Voodoo chipset. Obviously Elite or Battlezone were never heard of and those weren't even the first games with 3D graphics. I just don't get this the 3D revolution started at point X, as X does not exist.

      --
      -- RTFM:Slackware::Beer:Saturday
  11. It's not just the hardware.. by Xzzy · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the article:

    > At least for now it is. As the great gods of
    > technology continue to design new, unparalleled
    > computing power, the detail will only become
    > greater.

    I really don't agree that the advancement of hardware is the main reason that 3D is becoming, or will become, more and more realistic. Fact of it is, us humans still haven't quite nailed down how to duplicate reality. Skin in FF looked plastic because we still don't know how to render skin well. They looked stiff when they ran because we still don't know how to add in the subtleties of movement. They looked fake when they talked because we still haven't mastered expressions.

    I mean, people were doing production TV shows with Amiga's and Video Toasters a decade ago.. and that hardware couldn't hold a candle to today's machinery. It's not strictly hardware. I think 3d animation will only become more realistic once we've gotten better at figuring out how lighting works, how creatures move, and all the subtleties involved.

  12. Hmm Advertising by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

    Im sure it would give advertisers a better chance to piss you off. Especially if everythings physically real like in the holodeck - "please register this program, the override and safety protocols have been locked out, note the walls are closing in on you. To pay, simply scream as loud as possible, and your voice print will be taken as id for the credit transfer. You now have 30 seconds to pay."

    Bring on the realistic shooting innocent people in the street simulations and natalie portman pr0n models!!!!!!

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  13. IMAX is a failure by bagel · · Score: 1

    IMAX is the best example for showing that 3D is not what consumers really want. IMAX in both Australia and New Zealand is in big financial problem. Even if we have the technology, it means nothing unless there's an application for it. Entertainment has to be entertaining. And spinning lots of 3D objects around is not. Unless they have contents for such, virtual reality DVD and TV are just going to go the way of IMAX.

  14. Fluff piece? by Doug-W · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Anyone else feel that the entire article was written as mere fluff to get page views? There was nothing new there, nothing that could even be considered professionally written. It was just a rehash of a brief history of one subset of 3d technology and someone's Star Trek wet dream, but it gets the front page on /. ... Why?

    1. Re:Fluff piece? by Tim+Browse · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Anyone else feel that the entire article was written as mere fluff to get page views?

      Seconded. Dull info, amateur/sloppy writing.

      Take this example:

      This July, Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within was released. With it, came the most glorious 3D CG in history. <snip> The level of detail is unsurpassed to all previous movies. At least for now it is.

      Leaving aside the gorgeous grammar ("unsurpassed to"?), then quite apart from anything else, if FF's 3D CGI surpasses all previous movies, then it always will. If a wonderful new 3D CGI movie is released that surpasses FF, then it won't be a "previous movie", will it?

      Aside from such scrappy writing, he also missed out TNT/TNT2 chipsets in his 'history' of nVidia's products. TNT was a massive improvement in fill-rate - the first time you could really run a game at 1024x768 and higher without huge slowdowns.

      And all that "I still remember when Nvidia was the new kid on the block" - wow, he can remember a whole few years..? He can't actually remember enough to tell us why the Riva was not as good as 3dfx - just some vague comment that the 3dfx looked better. The Riva was a pretty buggy part - it had horrible seaming problems. nVidia introduced the TNT to developers as "an apology from us for how bad the Riva was".

      When I got to the end of the article, I was left wondering why the hell it got onto the front page of slashdot - basically all the article said was:

      "3D is the coolest! And it's going to get cooler! Have you seen the Sharper Image site? Hot dog! I'm gonna get me some nVidia lovin'!"

      Harsh but fair, methinks.

      Tim

    2. Re:Fluff piece? by Cato · · Score: 1, Redundant

      I agree about the quality of the writing - he should get someone who can write to edit his page before it goes live... (e.g. 'lead' for 'led' on the first page).

    3. Re:Fluff piece? by junklight · · Score: 1

      And maybe someone to add some content too...

  15. Worst article EVER . . . . by jgaynor · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is easily the worst article Ive ever seen linked to on slashdot. It appears to have been written by a 15 year old. It discusses nothing but random theory and has almost no technical details.



    Where's the info on anisotropic filtering? bump-mapping? If I wanted to be sbjected to this kind of tripe I'd read MSNBC or something.

    1. Re:Worst article EVER . . . . by 601 · · Score: 0, Flamebait


      Thank you. I was nearing the end of these posts wondering why no one had mentioned what a piece of crap that article was, and getting ready to write something myself.

      Reading that article was a complete waste of time. (Of course, sitting here complaining about it is equally as wasteful.)

    2. Re:Worst article EVER . . . . by YKnot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      What are you talking about? "Reading that article"? Why would anyone do that?

  16. Movies in 3D. by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Imagine if you had a system, where you used two movies, layed one on top of the other. It would look blury of course, but if the viewer were to wear a pair of expensive, high-tech filter glasses (having differently coloured lenses), a stereoscopic 3-D image could be achieved. I bet in 2 years time we could have a working proto-type, and then actually bring it to market within 10 years given the proper funding and agressive marketing.

    3D movies have existed for quite a while. Ancient systems used colour-filter glasses to get 3D. Other ancient systems used various tricks to get limited 3D effects in full colour. The Right Way to show a 3D movie is to have two projectors running films shot for each eye, put polarized filters on the projectors, and use polarized glasses to look at the resulting image. My understanding is that this is the way 3D movies are shown now, though I don't keep up with the industry (and so could easily be mistaken).

    For computers, the nicest way of doing 3D is to display alternate eyes on alternate frames, and use LCD shutter-glasses to decode it. You can buy packages for this off the shelf from several vendors; they work by replacing the rendering driver with one that renders two images and handles the synchronization of the glasses. These have existed for a while.

    Now, the fact that both of these solutions have existed for a while, but that neither of these have really caught on, should tell you the most important thing:

    Nobody really cares about true 3D for most entertainment or gaming applications.

    If they did, stereographic glasses would have sold like hotcakes when they were first introduced.

    A flat projection of a 3D world seems to be enough for most viewers, despite the industry's repeated attempts to provide something more.

    1. Re:Movies in 3D. by Conrad5 · · Score: 1

      the imax theaters use the alternating lcd technology. it is synched to the projector.

    2. Re:Movies in 3D. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moron. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

    3. Re:Movies in 3D. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also award you no points.
      Furthermore, if I had moderator points to award you, I would still award you no points, because there is no option: "-1, Completely Missed The Fucking Joke".

      Moron.

    4. Re:Movies in 3D. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Christopher Thomas, meet humor. Humor, meet Christopher Thomas.

    5. Re:Movies in 3D. by Placido · · Score: 1

      Now, the fact that both of these solutions have existed for a while, but that neither of these have really caught on, should tell you the most important thing:

      Nobody really cares about true 3D for most entertainment or gaming applications.


      Or it could mean that there is a flaw in the solution. Take for example the first motorcars. They were noisy, clunky and slow. People galloped by on horses laughing at the slow cars. It could be the same situation with 3D. Just because one solution doesn't work well doesn't necessarily mean the idea is flawed, it could be the solution.

      --

      Pinky: "What are we going to do tomorrow night Brain?"
      Brain: "I would tell you Pinky but this 120 char limi
    6. Re:Movies in 3D. by I.+M.+Bur · · Score: 1

      Those glasses are of course NOT the right solution. I guess it can be great to play Q3, or watch a movie using one of these, but when someone walks into my room, I will have to remove the glasses to se who it is. I will have to remove the glasses to look on my watch. I will have to remove the glasses to find my cup of milk. Or whatever. Compare it to just slightly turning your head, or just your eyeballs...

    7. Re:Movies in 3D. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remove the glasses ? The projected light doesn't have any magical capabilities above the light reflected from your watch which allow it to penetrate the otherwise opaque glasses. So your watch (or milk or whatever) will merely be a bit (perhaps 50%) darker, because each eye gets the wrongly polarised half blocked. The same with shutter-goggles, only they block all the light half the time.

  17. But.. by dwlemon · · Score: 1

    When everything is 3D it makes it hard to start a small (free) game project. I can make a game look about as good as a super nintendo if I take the time, but anything beyond that is out of reach for a single developer who can't spend all of his time on side projects.

    I hope that people will think "oh, i get it, it's retro," but I'm afraid people instead just frown at the low res and 2D.

    Also, SDL is great to work with, but I always run into performance issues with it.

    1. Re:But.. by listen · · Score: 1


      The first point is mainly because there are no
      good free tools for content creation.

      SDL doesn't really *do* very much ( in terms of computation), and it has no glaring design flaws.
      I imagine the performance problems are of your own creation.

    2. Re:But.. by GiorgioG · · Score: 1

      define good tools. You mean 3d modellers?

      Try Blender

  18. Macromedia Director by JerkyBoy · · Score: 1

    Macromedia released Director 8.5 with 3D support. It has a tool for creating interactive 3D using Lingo (the Director language). Most of the stuff that's being produced is kinda crappy, but you should check out the Lego site for an awesome example of a game. More to come, you can be sure...

    --


    Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. -- Mark Twain
  19. Progress? Or reinventing the wheel? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2

    It takes a computer days to produce what a polaroid can do in minutes.

    Seriously, the more I see about photo realism the more I wonder how much more effective it would be to just edit real photographs taken by a decent photographer.

    I'm all for photo realism in animation, but for stills it seems like a waste of perfectly good film. I'm not a neo-luddite, but most of this eye candy could have been done with photoshop and a real photo in a fraction of the time.

    1. Re:Progress? Or reinventing the wheel? by Nogard5 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      It takes a computer days to produce what a polaroid can do in minutes.

      I suppose the same could be said of a painter.

      Seriously, the more I see about photo realism the more I wonder how much more effective it would be to just edit real photographs taken by a decent photographer.

      Effective for what purpose? I'm a photographer, but I realize the merits of other art forms. Often, editing an existing photograph won't give you the results you want to achieve. 3D modeling gives you the opportunity to create your own worlds, independent of what you're able to capture with any kind of camera.

      3D modeling and other forms of computer art are just other media artists can use to create. And in the world of art, having more media available never hurt anyone.

      I'm all for photo realism in animation, but for stills it seems like a waste of perfectly good film.

      I'm not sure what this means. Do you have a better cause that this perfectly good film could be used for? I suppose it could be given to "decent photographers" to shoot images to be subsequently photoshopped to make "photo-realistic" stills. Which would be great, because then you'd have computer artists having to work their ideas around the images they're given from the photographer (whom they probably don't even talk to) rather than being allowed to create images from scratch if they want.

      Not that photoshopped photographs are necessarily bad, by any means. But to say that all computer-rendered stills should have been done as some collaboration between a decent photographer and a photoshop artist is simply naive, from an artist's perspective.

      Oh, and by the way, I must agree with the posts that named this among the most pointless of articles slashdot has ever linked to.

    2. Re:Progress? Or reinventing the wheel? by StaticEngine · · Score: 2

      Except, you know, actually finding the perfect layout of streams, trees, people, spaceships, alien beings, exploding stars, translucent men, dissolving animals, liquid metal Terminators, or Infernal Machines Powered By The Dead, and then setting up the camera and lighting so that you get the shot you're after, which can be tough if you're shooting inside a trash can, or doing a zoom out which starts inside an office and ends near the orbit of the moon... In any of these cases, your Drug Store Polaroid won't really do the trick.

    3. Re:Progress? Or reinventing the wheel? by symbolic · · Score: 1

      Tell you what...the day you can change the camera angle, lighting, or other aspect of an image on a whim, the quest for photorealistic 3D has some real value.

  20. 3d is the missing link to making Humanlike AI by CrazyJim0 · · Score: 1

    I'm suprising some people at CMU with this idea...
    Easy way to do this:
    Picture the 3d space as its imagination.
    And using a camera, it takes pictures of RL and represents it in its imagination.
    Suddenly we have context... lots of good stuff goes with it... just a ton of work.

    http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~sager/

  21. Haven't you heard? by x1r0k3wl · · Score: 1
    nVidia's GeForce4 is going to be the first consumer marketed 4-D accelerator with full screen anti-aliasing (you've never seen a prettier kline bottle).

    Aside from the occasional driver hiccup that causes the card to fold in on itself and become a singularity on the space-time continuum, the future of 4-D gaming looks very promising!

    1. Re:Haven't you heard? by empaler · · Score: 1

      *looks perplexed*

      ...four-dee gaming?
      4D.
      Okay.
      I must admit, I never paid much attention in physics class, but wouldn't the 4th dimension be just a tad unimportant thing to emulate on a video card? I mean, the program doesn't really care about time except the time it takes to execute and how long it should take to do this and that...?

      /eeeeevil

    2. Re:Haven't you heard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not everyone thinks that time is the 4th dimension, or even a dimension at all.

  22. 3d in a broader sense by boboroshi · · Score: 2, Informative
    Architecture is moving into 3d, but not in the traditional sense. CAD files, instead of simply being digital versions of paper files, are acctually becoming database related. When you draw a wall, you don't simply draw lines, you enter data about the wall, material, type, height, special notes, etc. All of which ties into a database. From this database one can generate a materials list and based on current market values, a price for materials.

    If you add a door in plan, it updates in sectiton and perspective. The next release of Autocad and Microstation should both support this in full (according to what I've heard).

    Currently, at the firm I work for (RTKL - 1500 world wide), they do things by standard CAD drawings. They spend hours updating drawings with minor changes. The wonder of 3d chat or real time 3d interaction isn't the most exciting thing here. The most exciting thing to me is revolutionizing the workflow of traditional media types, especially in architecture, interior design, and industrial design.

    --
    // john athayde
    # x@boboroshi.com
    # http://www.boboroshi.com/
  23. eyestrain by CrackWilding · · Score: 1

    This article is a prime example of why God gave us web designers. White text on light blue background? Yeah, right.

    --

    Visit sunny Knowumsayin.com, home of the pork shirt.

  24. Certainly not off-topic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was the "topic" that article or the theme "the future of 3d"? If it was the latter, just about anything I have ever read on the subject has been more informative, interesting and accurate. If the former, how did it get on the Slashdot page? It even contradicts itself: what's the difference between 3d raming graphics and vrml on a computer screen? They're both 2d representations of 3d calculations...

    My anonymity here is due to laziness: I don't want to remember another username/password. I've been considering registering but don't see any point if I won't be invloved in worthwhile discussions. Certainly don't see a point these days: the standard of your content is slipping! Beware!

  25. So bad... by Brad+Wilson · · Score: 1

    This web site was so horribly researched, so shallow on actual content, and so terribly written, that I expect it was probably done by Slashdot.

    :) :)

  26. Junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How did this get on Slashdot?

  27. Re:And then tbere's Blender by symbolic · · Score: 1

    NaN, the Dutch company behind Blender, released a browser plugin last week so that you can run real 3D apps (created with Blender) right in the browser. Blender isn't authorware with 3D tacked on (like Director), it's the real deal, even having its own built-in game engine. At $299, the Blender Player Tools will cost a fraction of what people can expect to shell out for Director.

  28. And the prize for.... by Sanity · · Score: 2
    ....not spotting the ironic intent goes to:

    Yes, it's Christopher Tomas!

    1. Re:And the prize for.... by Error27 · · Score: 2

      Sarcasm is all well and good in it's place...

      But it's interesting to note that on a -1 to 5 scale Christopher Tomas's post would rate a 3. While your suposededly more creative post would rate a mere 2. That means his post is 16% more interesting than your post.

      This fact is more impressive when you consider the subject matter that Christopher had to work with. Three dimensional movies are something that have been around for years. Every so called "geek" should already be somewhat familiar with how they work. Yet Christopher managed to take this topic and transform it into something new and fascinating.

      Christopher Tomas I salute you!

  29. That's a shame by __aahlyu4518 · · Score: 1

    from the article: "and Pamela Anderson's breasts won't be appearing in anyone's Java applet for some time yet either"

    Too bad... I'd really love to see my Konq with some 3d embedded Anderson boobies and browse my ass off ;-)

    But he's right... by the time the technology is that advanced, you don't want those anymore... they will be hanging UNDER your monitor (or whatever device is displaying them)... ;-)

  30. Seriously Guys... by squaretorus · · Score: 1

    Why are we being pointed at this? This is essentially a cheesy sunday suppliment article with a few screenshots and a bit of badly (if at all-) researched commentary on the bleedin (obvious) edge of 3D gfx.
    I'd be genuinely interested to read something NEW on this subject, some new insights, some well researched comparisons of TS, TS2 and FF in terms of polygons/second on screen etc... That would be interesting, I'd regurgitate that in the pub, but this!
    Anyone got some decent articles to point us at??

  31. What about auto stereograms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't Magic Carpet have an autostereogram option? I remember going bonkers trying to play it...

  32. One happy guy by metlin · · Score: 1

    From the site -
    Howdy guys! I'm happy to report I've been Slashdotted!
    LoL! That must be one of the few guys in this world who'd be happy on a fancy DoS attack ;-)

  33. Video kills the radio star again. by sideshow-voxx · · Score: 1

    I'm hitting the same brick wall with a small free game project. If it ain't 3D, people don't want to see it.

    Which is a crying shame, cause every 3D game there is now has to be put together by a commitee of people - which means no common vision. Always. That is why games suck nowadays.

    --

    "Anybody remotely interesting is mad, in some way or another" - Doctor Who

  34. skin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out this:
    http://graphics.stanford.edu/~henrik/papers/bssr df /
    for impressive skin-rendering.