Voxels vs. Polygons

August 18, 1999 11:26 PM

SGN has a little article on Voxels and Polygons. Both do 3D, but they do it differently. We have polygon accelerators, but we don't have voxel accelerators yet, and probably won't see any until there are loads of voxel games, which won't happen until there are accelerators...it's all a chicken and egg thing. So what's a voxel you ask?

Voxels are very literally something comparable to a 3D pixel. Pixels are used to cut 2D images into small squares each having a different color. Voxels are the same but are used for 3D models, a Voxel, instead of being 2D squares, is made up of 3D cubes each face with a color arranged into the shape of the model. This allows the creator to include an incredible amount of detail as long as he/she allows a high enough "resolution." ...

While on the subject of voxel based games, Outcast will be in stores soon.

Marcus Yam

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pikachu

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August 19, 1999 12:33 AM

Until we can manipulate voxels as well as polygons and draw around 100million a screne, I doubt we\'ll see widespread use of them since they look rather...uh...ugly.

Of course, while voxels get better looking, so do polygons...