3d graphics
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NVIDIA's Kepler GPU still (kinda, sorta) on schedule for 2011 debut
Back in September of last year NVIDIA pledged that the successor to Fermi, Kepler, would arrive in 2011. Since then, things have been rather quiet on the next-gen GPU front. In fact, rumors have started to circulate that the 28nm-based chip would be pushed back to 2012. Turns out those rumblings aren't entirely inaccurate. While the latest polygon pushing silicon will start being churned out before it's time to buy a new calendar, final products won't start shipping until next year, as a company rep told TechSpot. Kepler's descendent, Maxwell, is still expected to land sometime in either 2013 or 2014, but there's plenty of time for that timetable to slide back a bit too.
Hack turns Kinect into 3D video capture tool
We all knew this would inevitably happen, but seeing it in action is something else -- the Kinect transformed by the power of open-source drivers into a true 3D video camera for capturing oneself. UC Davis visualization researcher Oliver Kreylos fed the streams from his peripheral's infrared and color cameras into a custom program that interpolated and reconstructed the result, generating a mildly mindblowing 3D virtual reality environment he can manipulate at will. And if it makes him look a little bit like the proficiently penciled protagonists in Take On Me, that's just the cherry on top. Don't miss the videos after the break to see what we're talking about.
Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 blows our minds with a shockwave of charcoal dust (video)
This is quite possibly the single greatest argument we've heard for owning a 3D graphics workstation. It's hard to believe we're even looking at something generated by a computer. Hit the break for the best three minutes of video you've seen all day.
Take a planetary tour with Solar Walk
Solar Walk is a nifty astronomy romp from the folks who did the popular Star Walk iPhone and iPad app. Instead of exploring the night sky and deep space, you get to tour our solar system in luscious 3D graphics. While the app is universal for the iPhone and iPad, the iPad version is breathtaking with crisp graphics and beautiful color. Tapping on any planet will take you close to it, and you can use your finger to orbit the planet and see it from any angle or zoom. You can see the planets on any particular date and time, and speed up the animation to watch the planets in their elliptical orbits. Tapping the info button gets you some information on all the planets, like size, gravity, composition and more. One omission is that the program doesn't tell you which planets are up for viewing on a particular night. You'll need Star Walk for that. %Gallery-93500%
Unreal Engine 3 running on the iPod touch
Whenever you talk about games on a mobile platform, you usually have to also mention that while things like high-end 3D graphics are certainly possible, there are usually some concessions that have to be made. But in the case of the iPhone, perhaps not: Epic Games has apparently been showing Anandtech their Unreal Engine 3 on Apple's handheld, the same graphical engine that runs modern console hits like Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. There's even video, and the thing looks pretty darn incredible. It's possible that in the hands of a skilled developer, you could have a very impressive realistic graphical game running on the iPhone hardware. Some of the iPhone hardware, that is -- the engine was shown off on the 3GS and the 3rd generation iPod touch, so only those have the speed and power (and the OpenGL ES 2.0) to pull this off. But it's impressive nevertheless. Epic hasn't licensed this version of the engine yet as far as we know, but they promise to show off more in the future, so we'll be keeping an eye out. One more version of the iPhone, and we might be looking at games that can compete graphically with even modern consoles. [via Engadget]
Nokia N900 impressively demos WebGL 3D graphics
We're not sure anyone out there needs any more proof that the Nokia N900 is powerhouse, but just in case you still had doubts, check this video of a WebGL-enabled Firefox build smoothly rendering some complex 3D models on Espoo's "internet tablet with phone capabilities." It's pretty impressive stuff, especially considering WebGL is still being standardized and it hasn't gotten beyond Firefox nightlies on the desktop yet. Check it after the break. [Thanks, Jouni]
Caustic Graphics develops ray tracing at gaming speeds
The ray-tracing technique for generating 3D images is an extremely processor-intensive proposition that doesn't lend itself to gaming (or real-time anything, for that matter), but all of that may be about to change. Caustic Graphics, a San Francisco-based start-up founded by former Apple employee James McCombe, claims that its dedicated ray tracing card will produce photorealistic graphics at a rate 20 times faster than products currently available. And if that weren't enough, their new CausticRT platform has the potential to perform the operations a whopping 200 times faster -- possibly fast enough for a photorealistic gaming platform. The second generation technology should be unleashed sometime in mid-2010, while the CausticOne card will get its official announcement on April 23 of this year.[Via Business 2.0 Press]
Ghost Buddy puts you in the graveyard
Interested in a supernatural gaming experience? Ghost Buddy [App Store link] puts you in the middle of a graveyard at night to try and help some good ghosts and capture the baddies. The US$0.99 game has a unique form of game play. You use your iPhone/iPod touch like a virtual ghost viewer. As you move the phone up, down, left and right your view changes, so you get a 360 degree view of the foggy and spooky graveyard. You can move freely, even look straight down, or up above toward the sky. The good ghosts are white, and you have to return them to their graves. The bad ghosts are red, and you must defend against them.The graphics are quite good, and if you wear headphones, the 3-D sound is compelling and atmospheric. You also hear a low bass beating heart (it may be your own) as you explore the graveyard. You can control the levels of the game (number of ghosts) and also increase or decrease the fog. If you have 'hints' turned on, red arrows point to the ghosts so you can turn in the correct direction.The drawback to the game is the control scheme. You are supposed to tap near the bottom of the screen to capture, or defend yourself from a ghost. There are no icons, you just have to refer to the built in instructions to tell you where to tap. It isn't always clear when you have caught a ghost, although there appears to be a special sound that likely marks the event.Ghost Buddy is an interesting concept, and I'd like to see the developer make the controls more obvious, as well as apply his unique method of viewing the playing field to some other games.For $0.99, you have more than a ghost of a chance of enjoying the game.Update: The author of the program reports that he has submitted an updated version of the program which shows the control buttons on screen. That should make a big difference in how the game plays. Look for the update to version 1.3 very soon.%Gallery-47093%
