Unlimited detail for real-time rendering – The largest breakthrough since 3D began!!!

I am stoked.  SUPER DUPER STOKED.  Holy smokes this is the greatest 3D news I have seen in a long, long time.   We are talking about a complete game changer.  We are talking about a new revolution in technology.  If you know me well, then you know I have always had a passion for 3D, which was spawned from learning about virtual reality.  I always thought to myself, one day I will be the creator of my own virtual worlds.

One of the biggest issues though is creating detailed objects.   Every 3D artist would like to make the highest quality model they can, but we struggle with limitations of the technology.  The more complex you make your models, the more your computer slows down to a crawl.  As models have become more complex, going from a few hundred or thousand polygon surfaces in the early days of 3D to to models consisting of millions of polygons, it has become easier to crash your programs running out of memory.

The top visual effects companies use render farms, which are rows and rows of computers linked together in order to generate the insanely complex photo-realistic 3D visuals we see in films.  I have always thought to myself, eventually, someone is going to figure out how to get past this major issue and allow more complex 3D visualization, eventually it will get to a point closer to reality.

I found a great video worth watching for anyone who is interested in 3D computer graphics for film or games.   Since I first started working with computer graphics and 3D programs I knew that one day computers would be able to create a realistic virtual reality, not just because of the media I had seen growing up such as the movie lawnmower man, or tron, or the matrix.  It was because I had seen first hand the evolution of computer programs, from the days before real-time rendering even existed.

The first few 3D programs I used did not have any real-time capability.  If you wanted to create a 3D graphic, first you would model it in a wire frame.  After moving the object, the computer would update the image.  It did not update the image while the object was being moved.   It was not intuitive at all, and painstakingly difficult to create something that looked good.  Creating organic objects was an extremely complex process.

Everything was viewed on the screen as a wire frame model, and you could not see the surface until you would hit the ‘render’ button.  Then slowly the computer would generate the pixels of color creating your image in slices of pixels at a time.

When real-time rendering came about, it really changed everything for the speed in which a 3D artist could work, and the quality of what you could create.  For the first time you could see your model as you worked on it, you could see the surface with color and in some cases even with a texture.

Now rotating a model felt like holding an object in your hand, and you could just turn and look at it from different angles.

There were still many limitations, your object had to be simple or it would slow down too much.  You could not view many things like shadows or reflections or any special effects real-time.

At the same time that graphics programs were getting better, real-time graphics had a major impact on the way games were evolving.  3D games became better and better, but to this day they are still very limited.

Games these days look great, and real-time rendering in 3D art programs has grown up a lot too.  However there is one thing that is really holding it all back, and that is that you are limited in detail because of processing power.

3D objects are made out of polygons.  These polygons have different numbers of sides and orientations in 3D space.  They are connected at the edges to create a larger surface.  So a complex 3D model such as a character you might see in a film can have millions of tiny polygons woven together in a sort of ‘mesh’ that creates the skin of the object.  Virtual light is then bounced off of these polygons surfaces to create the image.

Game companies and 3D artists have used tricks to recreate the way objects and light look in the real world.  Yet these are just tricks, and they are all limited in many ways.

One of the main issues with a 3D model is the question of detail.  How detailed does it need to be?

If your model is a character that is far away in a scene, and they never come close to the viewer or camera, then they don’t require a lot of detail.  You can make a very simple model.  In video games this trick is used all the time to make a game run faster but still look cool, objects off in the distance of environments are often made out of low detailed shapes because they don’t need to ever come close to a player.

If your making a character for a music video, and the camera is going to fly right down their throat hole, then you might need a considerable amount of detail.  Not only on the characters face, but also down the throat hole, including the tongue and teeth.

When you make 3D art though, it is nice to just build a library one time.  If your creating a character it would make sense to make it as good as can be so it is more reusable in the future.

So it would be nice if you could just create a high resolution model, and not have to worry about ever making a low resolution character again.   Low resolution characters are going to be more limited to a specific use.

The only reason you make a low resolution character is to save on time and rendering speed.  The computer will render things faster with a lower detail model.  If the computer could render more detail without an impact, if it could render high detail in real-time, it would mean artists could focus on making high quality content without having to worry about rendering speed or other factors.  In general I think that is a good thing.

PLEASE LET THIS BE REAL!  Here is the video..

So this new technology somehow renders things in a sort of atomic approach, it just seems too good to be true.    I think it is some of the most exciting news I have seen in a while in terms of real-time, and I have seen a lot of exciting stuff.  It also remains to be seen, how realistic they can achieve certain effects.  For example, realistic lighting in 3D is a complex topic.

Will this engine be able able to handle caustics, hdr simulation, and be able to generate realistic lighting effects?  What about integrating it with physics?  It would be amazing if they could integrate something like euphoria from natural motion.  Rockstar Games needs to buy  this company Euclideon for a billjion dollars and make GTA UNLIMITED.

Each object is made of a cloud of atoms essentially, which is how things work in real life too, at least as far as scientist know.  The tech demo is incredible to see that an object and world can have such detail so that you could zoom into an individual blade of grass.

I would imagine you can also probably even zoom in on a tiny ant on that blade of grass, and probably even into the ant and the cellular structures it has within, and probably into a whole other universe existing inside the ants atoms.

Although the visuals are not perfect but I feel it is after all a tech demo.   For example you have this detailed  scene, but the water line looks like it came straight out of minecraft.  LOL!

Now can you even imagine if you are a fan of minecraft, that a version could one day be made with this ‘atomic’ rendering method?  That is a lovely thought!  Apparently Notch, the creator of minecraft is not sold on the evidence presented that this technology is genuine, so an official minecraft hybrid might never come about.  The fact that Euclideon is so secretive is understandable if their technology is as good as it seems.  I just hope though that they do bring it to market, and that whatever game they come out with first is wildly successful and awesome.

I came across a few more interesting videos. A different engine, called ATOMONTAGE ENGINE, which seems very similar to what Euclideon is doing..

Also a great interview with the Euclideon team which is absolutely worth watching..  This one is really awesome and I now believe this is not just some sort of hoax, the CEO Bruce Dell even addresses the other engines such as atomontage.   I just hope it doesn’t disappear now into oblivion!