Slashdot Mirror
Refresh your Memory: Advanced Graphics Algorithms
subtle writes "DevMaster.net has posted an interesting article about advanced graphics algorithms. The article discusses six widely used algorithms in graphics rendering of indoor and outdoor environments, namely: quad-based static terrain, Roettger's approach to continuous levels-of-detail in terrain, real-time optimally adapting meshes, portals, BSPs and PVSs. In each case the algorithm is discussed and some aspects of implementation are considered, as well as analyize each algorithm for its application in modern graphics systems."
for (int x = 0; x 320;x++) for (int y = 0; x 249; y++) drawpixel(x,y,data[x,y]) What ever happened to the simpler times...
je suis parce que j'aime
They for the TNA Algorithm - Tactile Natural Assimilation, for realistic representation of the skin around a woman's Breasts and Backside. This is the money maker, used for everything from Tomb Raider (Lara Croft) to Mario's bulbous (read: breastlike) nose in the popular Super Mario Bros. games.
An egregious ommision.
This is a very hot technical issue in gaming right now. The last 5 years have netted us decent techniques for doing network communications for low-latency gaming; with those in place now, we turn again to graphics.
Tribes and Tribes 2 were some of the first games to take on outdoor environments and do them well. Now, we have Unreal Tournament 2004 and Far Cry leading the pack with gloriously realistic outdoor playspaces.
It's only a matter of time before next generation gaming engines like these turn to non-linear gameplay such as what's in GTA 3 and we wind up with a world simulation that has a level of realism approaching reality.
I suppose people vaguely interested who know the basics but haven't tried some of these out are the target audience.
For any given subject, that's about 95% of the Slashdot crowd.
=)
It's easy to tell when slashdotters know nothing about a particular subject.
We get to read lame joke after lame joke.
This is one of the best collections of graphics algorithms on the net I'm aware of:
comp.graphics.algorithms FAQ
Another favorite of mine is Ray Tracing News, but there haven't been any new issues in a few years.
What other people's favorite collections of algorithms?
-jim
Overall I enjoyed the article. I'm a complete beginner when it comes to computer graphics, but I'm really interested in computational theory and algorithms and I think I'm pretty good with those subjects (classes I've enjoyed the most on my road to being a CS major are algorithms and mathematical courses for the most part).
;)
The article touches on many subjects I haven't heard about and I learned what a BSP (binary space partitioning) tree is, at least. Graphics are probably the next thing I'll try to get into, and I still have an OpenGL manual lying around that's only been opened once.
Perhaps as a game programmer, you'd probably see that it's not as in-depth as you'd want, and it's probably not simple enough to be understood by everyone, but the article caters to, I guess, intermediate level people with a developing interest in computer graphics? Hits the sweet spot with me.
www.google.com
Heya :)
;)
;) - hence the somewhat formal and academic style; however, in its current form as an article on DevMaster it is intended for intermediate readers. Those that look for some additional insight into (spatial) graphics algorithms. The article isn't a tutorial and (given its history) is not bothered with technical details, however, it does make reference to useful starting places for those that wish to explore the matter some more.
;) Those that really need them should go to the website.
I'm the author of the article. So I guess I can explain a few things.
Originally the article was written 3 years ago as a technical report for a small course I needed to do. DevMaster found this work and asked me whether they could make it available.
The course took place over 8 weeks, covering each algorithm in a week - and 2 weeks for the report at the end. The actual course work is still accessable at
http://www.cs.sun.ac.za/~henri/advgfx.html
And includes pictures and sources to keep everybody happy.
To those that are uncertain who the intended target audience is - well, originally my supervisor...
Although I agree - pretty pics would've been nice.
The choice of algorithms reflects not the state-of-the-art, nor the best approaches to solving graphics issues. The algorithms were, however, easily accessable to me at the time - and hence featured in my one-algorithm-a-week plan.
Somebody mentioned that BSPs are outdated, this isn't true - though they have been around for ages, they are still the work-horse for most indoor engines around. Sure, BSPs are rarely used for the actual rendering process (as mentioned in the article), but in terms of processability of spatial organization they are hard to beat.
I stand to be corrected but I'm rather sure Doom3 makes use of some form of BSPs as well. That should be good enough for anybody.