Software rendering: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:29, 21 October 2017

Revision as of 13:15, 19 June 2018

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For real-time rendering the focus is on performance. The earliest texture mapped real-time software renderers for PCs used many tricks to create the illusion of 3D geometry ([[true 3D]] was limited to flat or [[Gouraud shading|Gouraud-shaded]] [[polygon]]s employed mainly in [[flight simulator]]s.) ''[[Ultima Underworld]]'', for example, allowed a limited form of looking up and down, slanted floors, and rooms over rooms, but resorted to [[sprite (computer graphics)|sprites]] for all detailed objects. The technology used in these games is currently categorized as [[2.5D]].

One of the first games architecturally similar to modern 3D titles, allowing full [[six degrees of freedom|6DoF]], was ''[[Descent (video game)|Descent]]'', which featured [[3D model]]s entirely made from bitmap [[texture mapping|textured]] triangular polygons. [[Voxel]]-based graphics also gained popularity for fast and relatively detailed terrain rendering, as in ''[[Delta Force (video game)|Delta Force]]'', but popular [[fixed-function]] hardware eventually made its use impossible. ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'' features an efficient software renderer by [[Michael Abrash]] and [[John D. Carmack|John Carmack]]. With its popularity, ''Quake'' and other polygonal 3D games of that time helped the sales of [[Video card|graphics cards]], and more games started using hardware [[API]]s like [[DirectX]] and [[OpenGL]]. Though software rendering fell off as a primary rendering technology, many games well into the 2000s still had a software renderer as a fallback, ''[[Unreal (1998 video game)|Unreal]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' for instance, feature software renderers able to produce enjoyable quality and performance on period CPUs of that period. One of the last AAA games without a hardware renderer was ''[[Outcast (game)|Outcast]]'', which featured advanced voxel technology but also [[texture filtering]] and [[bump mapping]] as found on graphics hardware.

In the [[video game console]] and [[arcade game]] markets, the evolution of 3D was more abrupt, as they had always relied heavily on single-purpose chipsets. 16 bit consoles gained RISC accelerator cartridges in games such as ''[[StarFox]]'' and ''[[Virtua Racing]]'' which implemented software rendering through tailored instruction sets. The [[Atari Jaguar|Jaguar]] and [[3DO Interactive Multiplayer|3DO]] were the first consoles to ship with 3D hardware, but it wasn't until the [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] that such features came to be used in most games.