5 ms·

Carmack is the original. He's been writing class leading graphics engines since the days of distributing software via discs in plastic bags. He wrote the first

Carmack is the original. He's been writing class leading graphics engines since the days of distributing software via discs in plastic bags. He wrote the first side-scrolling engine for PCs (long before they were called that) back when it was considered impossible. He made people sit up and take notice of Shareware He wrote the engines for Commander Keen (2d platformer) Wolfenstein (3d) , Doom (3d with variable height floors/walls), Quake (full 3d), Quake II (coloured lighting etc) etc etc He's one of a very small number of people who were writing groundbreaking code right at the beginning, and are still writing groundbreaking stuff. He's constantly made his code public, as much as possible He loves fast cars; how does a 1000hp twin turbo w/24psi of boost Testarossa sound? (that was 11 years ago) He founded a company that builds and flys some serious rockets. real ones. Seriously, if that doesn't make you a coding god, what does?

potatolicious 16y ago
Not only that, while he's not the only talented graphics developer out there, he is one that has consistently brought something revolutionary and new to the table. id Tech 5 is going to introduce the entire concept of megatexturing - the grand unifying theory of geometry, just as Doom 3 was the first major engine to implement a unified lighting model. This is going to have major implications for both content production and rendering, and is exciting as fuck. Carmack's impressiveness is not only in his ability to write kickass looking engines, but also his ability to lead the pack in completely rethinking the sort of things most devs take for granted.
- modeless 16y ago
  Nitpick: As the name implies, megatexturing solves the problem of texture memory management and rendering, allowing essentially unlimited texture detail on any object. The problem of unlimited geometry detail is still unsolved. Carmack has hinted that id Tech 6 may tackle the geometry problem using voxels instead of polygons, and id actually demoed a voxel rendering system at SIGGRAPH 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEpAFGplnI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEpAFGplnI
  - moultano 16y ago
    Are there any good whitepapers on megatexturing out there? I've been trying to learn about it, but the powerpoints aren't cutting it.
    - modeless 16y ago
      This is the best explanation of the technique I've found (if you need enough detail to implement it): http://silverspaceship.com/src/svt/ http://silverspaceship.com/src/svt/ He uses the name "Sparse Virtual Textures" instead of megatextures so it's not very googleable. Also it's a video, not a paper, but the code is included.
- afterburner 16y ago
  Didn't Quake: Enemy Territory have megatextures for the maps? Is that iD Tech 5?
  - papercrane 16y ago
    It was iD Tech 4 plus MegaTexture. The feature for iD Tech 5 is being called Virtual Texture, and it supports more than just the terrain.
snprbob86 16y ago
Sheesh, didn't expect to be so severely down voted. I guess I chose my words poorly. I'm fully aware of Carmack's key accomplishments. He's an incredibly talented and influential guy. I didn't mean to imply that their are many people with a career much like his. What I meant to say was that there are many great engineers who are quietly developing fun and technically impressive games. Also, I had some deja vu and Googled up a comment I wrote a while back. It is about why I feel that Carmack has missed the mark on several major game technology trends: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=419606 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=419606
- palish 16y ago
  I understand what you're trying to say. I'm even close friends with someone whose skill level I'd call Carmack-like (an assessment I made, as a professional graphics programmer, over the course of two years). Your point is a good one, but not one that anyone wants to hear. I'd say just let Carmack have his moment; doing that on an iPhone is nothing short of breathtaking.
  - cubicle67 16y ago
    Sure, there's others with a very high degree of skill like Carmack, but it's his consistent ability to come up with amazing stuff over the last two and a bit decades that gives him legend status. It's not just ability and skill, it's also impact on the industry (which, obviously, requires a degree of luck and circumstance). It sounds pretty hash, but it's kinds hard to be considered a legend/god/whatever if no one's heard of you. But you raise an interesting point. For those people how do make an impact, to what degree is it due to circumstance, and to what degree their own skill? There's loads of very highly skilled people in any given field, and yet only a very small number of them will ever make much of an impact on that field. Why is this, and what differentiates the ones who do from the ones who don't?
  - derefr 16y ago
    > Your point is a good one, but not one that anyone wants to hear. That's why I left Reddit—the tyranny of the majority. I guess it's here now, too. Where to next?
vasi 16y ago
He also did the first port of X11 to Mac OS X, see Xquartz(1).

potatolicious 16y ago

Not only that, while he's not the only talented graphics developer out there, he is one that has consistently brought something revolutionary and new to the table. id Tech 5 is going to introduce the entire concept of megatexturing - the grand unifying theory of geometry, just as Doom 3 was the first major engine to implement a unified lighting model. This is going to have major implications for both content production and rendering, and is exciting as fuck. Carmack's impressiveness is not only in his ability to write kickass looking engines, but also his ability to lead the pack in completely rethinking the sort of things most devs take for granted.

modeless 16y ago
Nitpick: As the name implies, megatexturing solves the problem of texture memory management and rendering, allowing essentially unlimited texture detail on any object. The problem of unlimited geometry detail is still unsolved. Carmack has hinted that id Tech 6 may tackle the geometry problem using voxels instead of polygons, and id actually demoed a voxel rendering system at SIGGRAPH 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEpAFGplnI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEpAFGplnI
- moultano 16y ago
  Are there any good whitepapers on megatexturing out there? I've been trying to learn about it, but the powerpoints aren't cutting it.
  - modeless 16y ago
    This is the best explanation of the technique I've found (if you need enough detail to implement it): http://silverspaceship.com/src/svt/ http://silverspaceship.com/src/svt/ He uses the name "Sparse Virtual Textures" instead of megatextures so it's not very googleable. Also it's a video, not a paper, but the code is included.
afterburner 16y ago
Didn't Quake: Enemy Territory have megatextures for the maps? Is that iD Tech 5?
- papercrane 16y ago
  It was iD Tech 4 plus MegaTexture. The feature for iD Tech 5 is being called Virtual Texture, and it supports more than just the terrain.

snprbob86 16y ago

Sheesh, didn't expect to be so severely down voted. I guess I chose my words poorly. I'm fully aware of Carmack's key accomplishments. He's an incredibly talented and influential guy. I didn't mean to imply that their are many people with a career much like his. What I meant to say was that there are many great engineers who are quietly developing fun and technically impressive games. Also, I had some deja vu and Googled up a comment I wrote a while back. It is about why I feel that Carmack has missed the mark on several major game technology trends: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=419606 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=419606

palish 16y ago
I understand what you're trying to say. I'm even close friends with someone whose skill level I'd call Carmack-like (an assessment I made, as a professional graphics programmer, over the course of two years). Your point is a good one, but not one that anyone wants to hear. I'd say just let Carmack have his moment; doing that on an iPhone is nothing short of breathtaking.
- cubicle67 16y ago
  Sure, there's others with a very high degree of skill like Carmack, but it's his consistent ability to come up with amazing stuff over the last two and a bit decades that gives him legend status. It's not just ability and skill, it's also impact on the industry (which, obviously, requires a degree of luck and circumstance). It sounds pretty hash, but it's kinds hard to be considered a legend/god/whatever if no one's heard of you. But you raise an interesting point. For those people how do make an impact, to what degree is it due to circumstance, and to what degree their own skill? There's loads of very highly skilled people in any given field, and yet only a very small number of them will ever make much of an impact on that field. Why is this, and what differentiates the ones who do from the ones who don't?
- derefr 16y ago
  > Your point is a good one, but not one that anyone wants to hear. That's why I left Reddit—the tyranny of the majority. I guess it's here now, too. Where to next?

vasi 16y ago

He also did the first port of X11 to Mac OS X, see Xquartz(1).