15th December 2005, 3:53 PM
This 'meshing' picks up whatever the developer tells it to and gives it the illusion of sticking out more than another object behind or next to it and (with the same principal of bump mapping) cause that surface to show height and depth depending on the angle it's viewed at.
In other words... imagine being able to use 8 polygons to make a broadsword (like the low-poly sword Link uses in OoT) but give the look and detail of a prerendered sword with actual scars and cuts on the metal or with detailed embossed designs
This is ACM applied to 3-D graphics. You create the full prerendered object and then take pictures of it from every angle and paint the pictures on to the low poly model so that anything square becomes round and the level of detail is only limited by the amount of detail the developer wants to put in to the object when it's being fully rendered on the workstation. Playing a video game (whether it will be on Revolution or not) is not far from looking like Finding Nemo. Apparently the technology is available now but no one is using it.
In other words... imagine being able to use 8 polygons to make a broadsword (like the low-poly sword Link uses in OoT) but give the look and detail of a prerendered sword with actual scars and cuts on the metal or with detailed embossed designs
This is ACM applied to 3-D graphics. You create the full prerendered object and then take pictures of it from every angle and paint the pictures on to the low poly model so that anything square becomes round and the level of detail is only limited by the amount of detail the developer wants to put in to the object when it's being fully rendered on the workstation. Playing a video game (whether it will be on Revolution or not) is not far from looking like Finding Nemo. Apparently the technology is available now but no one is using it.