Uh-oh, I knew voxels would one day allow this kinda’ stuff to happen, just didn’t know what exactly. The thing that’s cool about voxels is they don’t use vertices really, so it doesn’t have to modeled in the conventional method, you can actualy sorta’ grow them and then re-topologize later if need be. They’re super dense and take some serious CUDA power to get a lot (yes, CUDA can be used for more than just computer games :rolleyes:), so unless you’re using tessellation it can be very limited, and I’m sure our brains can pump out a lot more detail than a computer could handle. That being said, I’d think that as this reconstruction stuff advances, so will the power of CUDA, eventually allowing for near endless 3D detail. You must remember, of course, that it will always be like a camera, only veiwable from straight on, if you rotate the voxels, it won’t show any detail on the other side, but still, if someone took a trip somewhere, you at least wouldn’t have to ask them how it went, you’ll be able to see for yourself :D.
Funny you and the article mention voxels, as I’ve been using them in my line of work for years to simulate fluid dynamics for creating visual effects for stuff like fire and smoke. Here’s a plugin (TurbulenceFD) I use for my 3D suite.
It’s not just for gaming… it’s for bringing to life the Balrog as well!
Dude, that’s awesome, wonderfull job, you made that look very realistic. I’m more of an After Effects guy, so I’d go about accomplishing that differently of course, but still, I’d hate to go head to head with you. What are you using? Maya? It looks a little more advanced than Max, and it can’t be Blender, you’d still be working on it :D.
Ha, I use it with Cinema 4D Studio. I find it a bit more “artist friendly” than Maya or Max. But that particular software has a nice 2D After Effects plugin as well, in case you’re interested. The technical curve isn’t too steep, and it’s loads of fun when you start getting results out of the box.
Anyway, voxels for reading your mind… who knew?!