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Using Excel As a 3D Graphics Engine

Posted by kdawson on from the right-tool-for-the-job dept.

simoniker writes "Obviously whimsical but slightly mind-blowing — an Eastern European coder has published video and the Excel tables to get full 3D wireframe running in Microsoft Excel. He even has solid polygonal graphics running. This isn't an Easter Egg by the Excel creators. Rather, he's using formulas to output the graphics, using two different methods, and showing all the variables on-screen in real time as the 3D is created."

48 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. One can only ask... by e4g4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...why?

    --
    The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:One can only ask... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Somebody has to.

      -RetroMud Grandpa

    2. Re:One can only ask... by 49152 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You sir are not a true geek ;-)

      He did it because he could, all other reasons would be redundant.

    3. Re:One can only ask... by garett_spencley · · Score: 4, Funny

      pfft... speak for yourself. I do it to get laid.

    4. Re:One can only ask... by longacre · · Score: 5, Funny

      What's the Excel formula for getting laid?

      --
      Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
    5. Re:One can only ask... by dvice_null · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not sure, but it probably has something to do with miscalculation.

    6. Re:One can only ask... by alta · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey, I'm a republican and a creationist. No one is going to convience me that this story was not worth of being posted or that I should turn in my card. Heck with an ID as low as mine, I doubt too many people would ask me to :)

      --
      Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
    7. Re:One can only ask... by legoman666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      alt-f4

    8. Re:One can only ask... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Funny

      "What's the Excel formula for getting laid?"

      I can give you the CSV version:

      Income, Car, Looks, Star Wars Fan, Flosses, Dress Quality, Glasses, Muscles, Fat
      $250k, Porsche, Good, 0, 1, >0.8, 0, 1, 0

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    9. Re:One can only ask... by uhlume · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's not how you spell 'IQ'.

      --
      SIERRA TANGO FOXTROT UNIFORM
    10. Re:One can only ask... by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You people that ask why on posts like this need to turn in your geek card. Geeks do this kind of stuff because we can.

      No, more like "because we HAVE TO. We can't help ourselves.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    11. Re:One can only ask... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't think that's it.....I make six figures (that's six figures to the left of the decimal, thank you very much) and still rarely get laid......but then, I'm married, so I guess that's probably why.

    12. Re:One can only ask... by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      Alright Mister Smartguy, how exactly do you spell IQ?

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    13. Re:One can only ask... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Funny

      "FAIL. you can't have extra spaces in a CSV, unless you drive a " Porsche"."

      Sorry. I'll append my CSV:

      Pedantic, Feelings of Superiority by Mastering of Mundane Technical Details, Nitpick a Comment About Why Geeks Don't Score
      0, 0, 0

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    14. Re:One can only ask... by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 4, Funny

      You sir are not a true geek ;-)

      I doubt he would apprecaite ASCII Quake either.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    15. Re:One can only ask... by caferace · · Score: 5, Funny
      Heck with an ID as low as mine, I doubt too many people would ask me to :)


      Please turn in your card.

    16. Re:One can only ask... by MobileMrX · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd have just amended my doctype to "CSSV", the popular "Comma Space Separated Values" format. ;)

    17. Re:One can only ask... by StormReaver · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Not sure, but it probably has something to do with miscalculation."

      I dated her once, and I've never been quite right ever since.

    18. Re:One can only ask... by xSauronx · · Score: 4, Funny

      he didnt mention he posts anon because the wife has a lower UID

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
    19. Re:One can only ask... by ayjay29 · · Score: 2, Funny

      >>What's the Excel formula for getting laid?

      b4i4q ru/18

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      Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
  2. This explains it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The DNF team has been waiting for the excel rounding errors to be fixed before release.

  3. Could this be... by Darundal · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...a sign of some impending apocalypse?

  4. Obligatory Joke.. by Matt+Amato · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently he's using Excel as his web server too...

    1. Re:Obligatory Joke.. by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Funny

      When your only tool is a hammer, you must make the whole rest of the world look like a nail.

      --
      "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    2. Re:Obligatory Joke.. by lpangelrob · · Score: 1, Funny

      When it comes to Excel, I think the appropriate tool analogy is a Swiss army knife. Only instead of twenty different knives, Excel provides twenty different hammers.

      --
      -Rob

      Biblical fiscal responsibility

    3. Re:Obligatory Joke.. by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

      What if your only tool is a condom? With a hole?

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    4. Re:Obligatory Joke.. by Jogar+the+Barbarian · · Score: 4, Funny

      I guess you could set up a Chinese water torture station.

      --
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      2. ???
      1. On Soviet Slashdot, a Beowulf cluster of alien Natalie Portman overlords welcomes YOU!
  5. circa 1990 MS Works was a Turing Machine by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've long forgotten how I did it, but I used the database application in MS-Works for Windows 3.0 as Turing Machine.

    Why? If you have to ask, get off Slashdot.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  6. Not to worry ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure someone has either already done this in emacs, or soon will.

    Those guys have a mode for everything. :-P

    Cheers

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Not to worry ... by kalirion · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh yeah! Good ol' C-x M-c M-vectorengine...

      Of course I still prefer butterflies.

  7. Not impressed by Rufus211 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I won't be impressed until Excel can pull of something as simple as a flight simulator.

  8. Oblig. by BlackPignouf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nice, but could it display a 2D rectangle whose dimensions are 850 & 77.1?

  9. 65,535 by TBerben · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hopefully, no formula outputs that value. Who knows what 3d image you'd get?!

  10. big whoop by FranTaylor · · Score: 5, Funny

    This was possible on a 7 MHz 68000 back in the day of the original mac. At 3 GHz he should be able to raytrace in Excel.

    1. Re:big whoop by jschen · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've heard of overclocking. But why would you want to underclock your 8 MHz Mac? I guess in this discussion, the correct answer would be "because you can".

  11. Finally... by wllf · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is the breakthrough we were waiting for. Duke Nukem Forever is right around the corner now!

  12. That's pretty cool... by Tarlus · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...but can it run Linux?

    * Runs away *

    --
    /* No Comment */
  13. Re:A true geek... by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its kinda fun to... in Word ... executes a vba ... creates .. excel chart ... access database ... outlook. Eh? "Kind of fun"? Do you also find sticking your fingers into an electric pencil sharpener "fun"?
  14. A month early... by mbessey · · Score: 3, Funny

    This has to have been accidentally published in the wrong month. It's clearly intended for April. What kind of Fools are running that magazine?

  15. compressed: by Anonymous+Cowpat · · Score: 2, Funny

    geek
    0

    --
    FGD 135
  16. Re:A true geek... by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you also find sticking your fingers into an electric pencil sharpener "fun"? That's not his finger.
    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  17. Re:A true geek... by ParaShoot · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not his finger. It's a space station?
  18. Re:A true geek... by Chyeld · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, it's a little short to be a Stormtrooper.

  19. Re:A true geek... by Translation+Error · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's ok; that's not a pencil sharpener, either.

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  20. Re:A true geek... by ArAgost · · Score: 5, Funny

    And it always shoots first :(((

  21. Re:Eastern European? by autophile · · Score: 4, Funny

    What makes a Hungarian coder "Eastern European"?

    Not so much that he's from Hungary, but for what he did. You see, we Westerners think of the old Soviet-era Eastern Europe as a windswept expanse of cold, grey concrete buildings. All the people are huddled inside, shivering over a fire made out of rolled-up Pravda, because the Central Committee didn't come through with the oil for the 15th year running. Smartly-dressed politzei wearing fur hats patrol the streets with vicious attack dogs.

    So it's pretty natural that if you see a 3D render in Excel, you have to think: "My God, what God-forsaken country do you have to be in to have to do 3D renders in Excel?!" And then you picture that guy hiding in a monk's hole, giggling to himself, swilling tea made from thrice-used teabags heated by Pravda fire, with a dash of bootleg Stolichnaya for kicks, and it couldn't happen anywhere except Eastern Europe, that fictional colorless country where it snows all the time.

    --Rob

    --
    Towards the Singularity.
  22. Re:Eastern European? by jabber · · Score: 2, Funny

    Clearly there's no difference between Bulgaria and Romania. It's all just "Eastern Europe". :)

    --

    -- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
  23. Had to do it by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's the Excel formula for getting laid?

    Gainful employment, a shower, a suit and a tie.

    #REF!

    --
    Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.