Procedural Synthesis on the Xbox 360
- :FI:TacticalS!
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Procedural Synthesis on the Xbox 360
I am buying an XBox 360 for the family this Christmas and have been looking at its specs and capabilities. This article interested me - http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/ ... 60-1.ars/2
"The Xbox 360's solution to this problem is to store high-level descriptions of objects in main memory, and have the CPU procedurally generate the geometry (i.e., the vertex data) of the objects on the fly. So in the case of our forest, main memory stores information about the tree, like the type, size, location of each leaf, etc., along with other relevant data like the direction of the prevailing wind. This information is passed into the Xbox 360's Xenon CPU, where the vertex data that defines the polygons out of which the tree is made are generated by one or more running threads. These threads then feed that vertex data directly into the GPU (by way of a special set of write buffers in the L2 cache, but more on that later). The GPU then takes that vertex information and renders the trees normally, just as if it had gotten that information from main memory."
This will be an interesting advancement in gaming. Mind you look who will own this technique. No two trees the same again!
"The Xbox 360's solution to this problem is to store high-level descriptions of objects in main memory, and have the CPU procedurally generate the geometry (i.e., the vertex data) of the objects on the fly. So in the case of our forest, main memory stores information about the tree, like the type, size, location of each leaf, etc., along with other relevant data like the direction of the prevailing wind. This information is passed into the Xbox 360's Xenon CPU, where the vertex data that defines the polygons out of which the tree is made are generated by one or more running threads. These threads then feed that vertex data directly into the GPU (by way of a special set of write buffers in the L2 cache, but more on that later). The GPU then takes that vertex information and renders the trees normally, just as if it had gotten that information from main memory."
This will be an interesting advancement in gaming. Mind you look who will own this technique. No two trees the same again!
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ok
here we go
"It is a console,a very powerful one, but you can't play Il-2 on it.But if you could the leaves would look absolutely fantastic." I think Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion will look great on XBox360. On my PC also.
Yep, powerful it is but it is a toy, without any serious capabilities, like PC:)
TacT, imagine such a quest in some RPG game - you have to find some particular tree, you know its description, it has two leaves on the little branch on the loft side of the tree, near the blackberry bushes, and then blah blah blah....with this technology they can do that:)
No more killing enemies, you just look how beautiul they are:)
see the little scratch on the blade of his sword that is coming closer and closer?
Argh!!!
S!
Mac(I loved vector graphics)ca
here we go
"It is a console,a very powerful one, but you can't play Il-2 on it.But if you could the leaves would look absolutely fantastic." I think Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion will look great on XBox360. On my PC also.
Yep, powerful it is but it is a toy, without any serious capabilities, like PC:)
TacT, imagine such a quest in some RPG game - you have to find some particular tree, you know its description, it has two leaves on the little branch on the loft side of the tree, near the blackberry bushes, and then blah blah blah....with this technology they can do that:)
No more killing enemies, you just look how beautiul they are:)
see the little scratch on the blade of his sword that is coming closer and closer?
Argh!!!
S!
Mac(I loved vector graphics)ca
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What was I thinking? Sorry folks.
Right now in gaming developers have to render all the world elements like structures, trees, rivers and what not. Often you will find, for example, that same tree, or at least a limited variety of trees, all over the map. What this new technique will do is basically tell the computer how to make a tree on the fly, resulting in variety to each and every tree. The developer won't need to actual spend time creating these trees, which he won't in any case.
This could be very interesting as the environments would be much more dynamic and varied. What it seems to me, though, is playing the same level that same tree would look a little different each time. That might be odd. How far could they take this? I can't imagine, for instance, it would replace designing a village in say Call of Duty, as one can't have randomness, or maybe for online this would be welcomed? For now it seems directed towards the smaller environmental elements.
TS!
Right now in gaming developers have to render all the world elements like structures, trees, rivers and what not. Often you will find, for example, that same tree, or at least a limited variety of trees, all over the map. What this new technique will do is basically tell the computer how to make a tree on the fly, resulting in variety to each and every tree. The developer won't need to actual spend time creating these trees, which he won't in any case.
This could be very interesting as the environments would be much more dynamic and varied. What it seems to me, though, is playing the same level that same tree would look a little different each time. That might be odd. How far could they take this? I can't imagine, for instance, it would replace designing a village in say Call of Duty, as one can't have randomness, or maybe for online this would be welcomed? For now it seems directed towards the smaller environmental elements.
TS!
Last edited by :FI:TacticalS! on Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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...
um ...
okay,
once again, Tac
in Swedish this time,
maybe?
Falk
um ...
okay,
once again, Tac
in Swedish this time,
maybe?
Falk
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- The history of Paul Revere's midnight ride, by Sarah Palin.
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