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This sounds a bit like Euclideon's Unlimited Detail tech demo video, which got some press a couple of years ago and then vanished without trace: https://www.yo

This sounds a bit like Euclideon's Unlimited Detail tech demo video, which got some press a couple of years ago and then vanished without trace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00gAbgBu8R4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00gAbgBu8R4 (Warning. Video may contain critical levels of overhyped vapourware.) To me it sounded like Euclideon had figured out a new wrinkle in efficiently storing and searching very large instanced voxel spaces, and Voxel Quest sounds very similar. While Euclideon's demo was obviously a rigged tech demo, it still looked very cool, and I'm glad that it's turning out that this sort of thing is feasible.

gavanwoolery 11y ago
Oh wow was not expecting this to go up on HN...and I thought I was going to get some sleep. :) Primary difference between Euclideon's stuff and mine is that I am willing to disclose how my stuff works. It is actually a really simple combination of marching in a grid and then working down into that grid cell with distance field marching. I am doing a writeup on it as soon as I get some time. :) The primary difference from the old methods I used in Voxel Quest is that the old methods calculated the full volumes, whereas the new method calculates only the visible surfaces.
- rsp1984 11y ago
  Very cool! Are you doing this on the CPU or GPU?
  - gavanwoolery 11y ago
    Fluid sim is CPU, all rendering is done on the GPU though.
rsp1984 11y ago
Since I happen to know the founder of Euclideon and the company a little bit I have to emphasize here that their tech was and is real. Sure in the videos it wasn't presented in a neutral academic setting but it's far from rigged and in fact is being used in the geospatial industry today. Voxelquests technology looks very promising too and I am looking forward to seeing this applied in a game setting.
- M4v3R 11y ago
  For those who didn't seen it - Euclideon released a new video about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvCxa9Y9NU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvCxa9Y9NU
  - anc84 11y ago
    "Euclideon Makes World’s Most Realistic Graphics" Yeah, honest and humble as always. I wonder how the people who actually developed the algorithms and procedures they used about this.
    - threeseed 11y ago
      The same way everyone in any industry takes credit for work done by other people. And it's just product marketing. Most of the world aren't engineers. Boring them with technologies and specifics isn't how you sell products.
      - CyberDildonics 11y ago
        It isn't 'just product marketing' Their videos are ridiculous and prey upon people not being able to identify what they aren't seeing. They made grandiose claims and diverted attention to things that didn't matter. How many games are using what they've done?
        threeseed 11y ago
        It seemed pretty clear that they were more interested in geospatial, real estate etc industries. Gaming is not even a sensible industry to break into given how fundamentally different the workflow would be to use this technology. And sure it was a little over the top but then again so is most marketing.
        Mithaldu 11y ago
        > Gaming is not even They claimed themselves that two games are being made with their engine.
CyberDildonics 11y ago
The only thing they did differently was marketing and hype. They didn't invent anything, they didn't come up with anything new. Their own rendering looked terrible while they got up close to low poly trees to try for a comparison. Snake oil pure and simple. 3D looking good is hugely about lighting, geometric detail is not really a problem.
ingenter 11y ago
So just you know, Eucclideon have made a commercial application using their technology - Geoverse, a set of tools for geo-data. Yes, it sort of works. http://www.atpress.ne.jp/releases/33345/a_1.jpg http://www.atpress.ne.jp/releases/33345/a_1.jpg

gavanwoolery 11y ago

Oh wow was not expecting this to go up on HN...and I thought I was going to get some sleep. :) Primary difference between Euclideon's stuff and mine is that I am willing to disclose how my stuff works. It is actually a really simple combination of marching in a grid and then working down into that grid cell with distance field marching. I am doing a writeup on it as soon as I get some time. :) The primary difference from the old methods I used in Voxel Quest is that the old methods calculated the full volumes, whereas the new method calculates only the visible surfaces.

rsp1984 11y ago
Very cool! Are you doing this on the CPU or GPU?
- gavanwoolery 11y ago
  Fluid sim is CPU, all rendering is done on the GPU though.

rsp1984 11y ago

Since I happen to know the founder of Euclideon and the company a little bit I have to emphasize here that their tech was and is real. Sure in the videos it wasn't presented in a neutral academic setting but it's far from rigged and in fact is being used in the geospatial industry today. Voxelquests technology looks very promising too and I am looking forward to seeing this applied in a game setting.

M4v3R 11y ago
For those who didn't seen it - Euclideon released a new video about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvCxa9Y9NU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvCxa9Y9NU
- anc84 11y ago
  "Euclideon Makes World’s Most Realistic Graphics" Yeah, honest and humble as always. I wonder how the people who actually developed the algorithms and procedures they used about this.
  - threeseed 11y ago
    The same way everyone in any industry takes credit for work done by other people. And it's just product marketing. Most of the world aren't engineers. Boring them with technologies and specifics isn't how you sell products.
    - CyberDildonics 11y ago
      It isn't 'just product marketing' Their videos are ridiculous and prey upon people not being able to identify what they aren't seeing. They made grandiose claims and diverted attention to things that didn't matter. How many games are using what they've done?
      - threeseed 11y ago
        It seemed pretty clear that they were more interested in geospatial, real estate etc industries. Gaming is not even a sensible industry to break into given how fundamentally different the workflow would be to use this technology. And sure it was a little over the top but then again so is most marketing.
        Mithaldu 11y ago
        > Gaming is not even They claimed themselves that two games are being made with their engine.

CyberDildonics 11y ago

The only thing they did differently was marketing and hype. They didn't invent anything, they didn't come up with anything new. Their own rendering looked terrible while they got up close to low poly trees to try for a comparison. Snake oil pure and simple. 3D looking good is hugely about lighting, geometric detail is not really a problem.

ingenter 11y ago

So just you know, Eucclideon have made a commercial application using their technology - Geoverse, a set of tools for geo-data. Yes, it sort of works. http://www.atpress.ne.jp/releases/33345/a_1.jpg http://www.atpress.ne.jp/releases/33345/a_1.jpg