[MUD-Dev] Graphic MUDS/Ultima Online

[Adam Wiggins]

> >   at 06:00 PM, Adam Wiggins <nightfall at user2.inficad.com> said:
> >>I've never seen a descent looking 3D landscape, realtime or rendered. 
> >>Organic shapes just don't take well to polygons, and it's difficult
> >>to get the rich colors of a fantasy world in 3D.
> 
> Hmm. Then Ild hesitate to say you haven't seen many rendered images..

Maybe, but I'd say more that I'm just spoiled by painted art.
I've certainly never seen any rendered 3D which comes near the beauty
of your average fantasy book cover.

> Ild sugegst yo ustart with an image called "The Road to Poin Reyes" done by
> The Lucasfilm Computer group (now Pixar) about 15 years ago, and it onyl
> gets even better from there.

Sounds interesting - know where I can find a copy of it?

> Polygons are the oldest and most primitive way to describe a surface.
> theya re stil lsued today mainly because..
> (1) game Programmers tend to lag behind the science..

Well, I wasn't thinking of realtime 3D, actually.  Anyhow I'm not a 3D
guy, I only know what I see 3D folks create using common 3D packages
such as 3D Studio, Softimage, Alias on the SGI, Lightwave, and so forth.

> (2) Its the fastest thing to draw and easiest thing to put on a chip.

Draw time matters when you're doing rendered art?

> From Polygons, you go to Splines, CSG trees, and a whoel host of even mroe
> esoteric ways of describing surfaces like fractals and octrees and such.  

Well even though I can't work 'em, there sure are a lot of cool little
packages availible nowadays...metabols are a lot of fun, also those
ones that do muscle groups.

> Its worth noting that the s3D chip, which failed becuase no game progrmamer
> undersrtod it, was  hsrdware spline renderer.

s3D?  Made by what company?

> This was my field (3D rendering) befoer I mvoed itno Multi Media and games.

*nod*...I'm a game guy(tm), so graphics are more or less irrelevant
to me (which could explain why I have no problem playing text muds).
I've certainly never seen good 3D in a game - most of them look grey
and surreal, like Diablo.  Ick!  Blizzard's games had pretty good graphics
until they went to 3D...