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Cg: nVidious Plot or Graphical Revolution?
June 20th 2002, 01:55 CEST by m0nty Slipping in amongst the news of Morrowind, NWN and WarCraft 3, nVidia and Microsoft have unveiled what they claim is the strongest push yet to bring cinematic-quality real-time graphics from the movie screen to the PC. The introduction in version 9 of Microsoft's DirectX of a High-Level Shading Language (HLSL), revealed earlier in 2002 and which has just gone into beta, have been trumped by nVidia, which has announced a high-level programming language called Cg - short for "C for graphics". The common, familiar C-like syntax enables rapid development of stunning, real-time shaders and visual effects for graphics platforms, and is compatible with Microsoft's recently announced High Level Shading Language for DirectX® 9.0. With Microsoft around, you know there will always be standards issues (remember OpenGL?), and this is no different. Cg represents nVidia's latest salvo in its battle with ATI and other graphics card vendors for the hearts and minds of developers over their preferred programmable shaders and 3D APIs. The vendors have already started attacking each others' DX9 support, and Cg brings a whole new set of arguments about cross-platform implementation and proprietary technologies. Let the new standards war begin! If there is to be a war, nVidia surely have the metaphorical SoF2 briefcase camped beyond all hope of the terrorists escaping with it. In this interview with nVidia svengali David Kirk conducted by new Eurogamer offshoot Gamesindustry.biz, HLCL is even characterised as "Microsoft's own implementation of Cg", suggesting that nVidia is dictating terms to the dreaded Redmondians. Kirk fends off the inevitable question about incompatibility with non-nVidia hardware thusly: "Our compiler generates shader code and sends it to DirectX or OpenGL, and shaders are a standard, so they should run on any card that supports the shader standards, including our competitors? Besides, I think it's in our interest to make sure that Cg runs well on everything - we want people to really use this technology, and that's all about taking away their reasons not to... Making the compiler so that it didn't work well on ATI cards, for example, would be really bad for us too." Do you trust this man? Has nVidia created Cg out of the goodness of its heart, or is it really just another attack on its competitors? Does it matter, or should we just accept nVidia's dominance of the graphics card market? Will the majority of programmers choose Cg with all its supporting apps, or play it safe with the more limited HLCL? Will Cg become the new Glide - the troublesome rendering technology that was left behind when 3Dfx died? What does it mean for graphical engine makers, like id, Epic and Lithtech? What does this mean to games already in development: will they have to redo parts of their code? (Hi George B!) |
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Topic: Cg: nVidious Plot or Graphical Revolution?
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51 isn't too far behind the age of my parents, who are in their mid50s. That qualifies as old to me. Smashing!
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I'm turning 29 in 2 weeks. That's almost old, even more so when I tell my son I've been playing videogames for 23 years. Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series Champions
"It's all about positioning! So assume the position!" JMCDaveL |
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I'm 32. One foot in the grave and all that ... "It's pretty common for pussies, dumbasses, and their families to blame their problems on vague influences like the media and society. The truth is, fuck you."
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Then I'm 33.5 and dead. I believe I can fly......urk.
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HiredGoons I'll pretend your playfully teasing me, because I know you're actually trying to twist a voodoo knife into my soul. Indeed I am, I studied to be a boko for almost a full year. Please stop using my web browser as a toilet.
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(this sounds like a bad chatroom now) "Hi, my name is Matt, I'm 24, male, and I like soft things, who wants to be my friend?" btw, I'd say 30 something is old, but my wife is 34. Though I tease her about how old she is all the time, so maybe yer all ancient. I did not change my name...morn did.
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I turned 30 on June 7th. Shut up. All of you. Before I kill you. Now. I mean it. "I don't get mad. I get stabby."
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Haaaaaapppy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Haaaaaapppy birthday dear Caryn... Happy birthday to you! |
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Is Caryn old? Alles in Butter, liebe Mutter!
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She will be in ten years. A mere 1/3rd of her life. So little time left... tick, tick, tick... Please stop using my web browser as a toilet.
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Heh..... Planetcrap=PlanetThirtysomething... Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series Champions
"It's all about positioning! So assume the position!" JMCDaveL |
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That's ok, Caryn. I like older women. If you'd like, I will rub Ben-Gay all over your body. Smashing!
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Haha, stop it, Nutty. I can't take it anymore, and I'm not even Caryn. To everyone who jumped all over Max Diablos: Where the hell were you when Nutty started with the creepy come-ons? |
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It's his Nutty Charms, remember. It proves he's all of 15, which is funny, because my 13 year old has better lines. Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series Champions
"It's all about positioning! So assume the position!" JMCDaveL |
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Bailey Indeed I am, I studied to be a boko for almost a full year. This explains my intermittent crushing eye pain. |
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Thanks for the belated birthday wishes. :) I forgot to have my turning-30 crisis. Maybe next year. "I don't get mad. I get stabby."
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well, if you're like most of the women i'm familiar with, you're going to be "turning 29" for the next 20, 30 years, so you'll have plenty of opportunity. :) Whoops, sorry, was my common sense showing again? -HoseWater
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Anal I agree about Nutty. But I've found if you ignore it, it goes away faster than if you poke at it. Caryn wasn't worrying about it, so I wasn't. Now, if you have a suggestion that won't make the problem flare out of hand....? I did not change my name...morn did.
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For you DVD-philes that have a lot of titles, check out this site. Cool little database utility that will post your stuff online for others to view. I'd post a link to mine, but their server seems to be experiencing some problems right now. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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Yeah I had that for a while ... Gestalt actually pointed it out to me at one point. Its a great tool to catalog my DVDs. And I would use it, I really would. Its just that I keep loaning out DVDs to people and I never seem to be able to inventory them, they're signed out so often (I don't actually have people sign out DVDs, but I'm really beginning to think I should). -Jon
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I actually use the sign-out feature in the program. It's helped me track down a couple of titles that I loaned out and forgot about. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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I've never even seen that! NEAT! I wouldn't mind loaning my DVDs out to people nearly as much ... if they would just rewind them before giving them back to me!! -Jon
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Yep. Check the status bar above a title's window and change the option to Loan to Custom. Pretty handy. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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I own exactly one DVD. Sound and Motion Vol.1 When it comes to cds I've got a few hundred. I like music. iamelectro
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Young Ones, September 17th. So, not too much longer now. |
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This is the complete set, awesome! "Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it."
-James Baldwin |
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Rik Mayall is such a knob....but he's a damn funny knob! His work in BlackAdder (especially BlackAdder Goes Forth) is the funniest thing I've seen from England. Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series Champions
"It's all about positioning! So assume the position!" JMCDaveL |
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If you haven't already, you should try and watch 'Filthy, Rich and Catflap', 'bottom' and also 'the new statesman' This week I will be mostly playing Warcraft 3
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I don't want to. I believe I can fly......urk.
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well thats ok, you don't have to. This week I will be mostly playing Warcraft 3
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I sort of want to, but I don't want to put any effort into the process. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Will someone do it for me? Please? "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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Consider it done. signatures are, as I've stated, for perverts
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this is the biggest load of bollox ever |
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