3 ms·
Some interesting related stuff in this talk: HandmadeCon 2016 - History of Software Texture Mapping in Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn76r0JxqNM https
by cma 5y ago
Some interesting related stuff in this talk:
HandmadeCon 2016 - History of Software Texture Mapping in Games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn76r0JxqNM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn76r0JxqNM
I think they say at one point it went from 14 to 8 instructions, and then the Duke Nukem guy (Ken Silverman) got it down to around 4.
Quake would do something where it only issued a divide every 8 pixels or something, and then only interpolate when inbetween and the out of order execution on pentium pro (I think?) would let it all work out.
- joakleaf 5y agoFor perspective correct texture mapping quake did the distance divide every 8 pixels on the FPU, and the affine texture mapping on the integer side of the CPU in between (you can actually see a little bit of “bending”, if you stand right next to a wall surface in low res like 320x200). Since the FPU could work in parallel with the integer instructions on the pentium, this was almost as fast as just doing affine texture mapping. This worked even on the basic Pentium. It was likely also the reason Quake was a unplayable on the 486 and Cyrix 586.
- kqr 5y agoGreat discussion! Early on, they mention what I think is the book Applied Concepts in Microcomputer Graphics. It sounds like it would be right up my alley, but I can only find it with very expensive shipping. Does anyone know of a book like it? I'm very interested in getting started with software rendering from the ground up, mainly to scratch an intellectual itch of mine. I learn better from well-curated books than online material in general.