How It Works
Let's make one thing perfectly clear -- Righteous 3D is not into 2D. It's a dedicated 3D accelerator that works with your existing 2D accelerator. Its sole purpose is to render complex three dimensional environments in real time. Here's how it works:
Righteous 3D is a stand-alone accelerator that operates transparently with your graphics adapter. Installation is simple -- plug it into a PCI expansion slot near your 2D accelerator. Using the VGA loop-thru cable provided with Righteous 3D, connect the output of the graphics card to the input on Righteous 3D. Then you connect the monitor to the output of Righteous 3D.
When you run regular programs like word processors or speadsheets, Righteous 3D simply passes the display signal from your 2D adapter to the monitor. When you run a game designed for Righteous 3D or Direct3D, Righteous 3D takes over the monitor display. This configuration gives you maximum control of your graphics environment -- total 3D acceleration without compromising your 2D performance.
That brings up an interesting point. You've heard the phrase "addition by subtraction?" That is exactly what you're doing with 3D solutions that replace your existing 2D accelerator. Hello... McFly... does this make any sense?!? Think about it. Let's say you just spent $300 on a high performance VRAM accelerator. Now you want to add 3D acceleration to your system and you spend $200 on an integrated 2D/3D solution. Guess what? It just cost you a total of $500 for 3D because you won't be using the VRAM accelerator anymore. And let's face it, with an integrated solution you're sacrificing somewhere, either 2D or 3D performance. Why not have the best of both worlds?
That's what you get with Righteous 3D -- the best 3D acceleration for PC gaming. Righteous 3D, based on 3Dfx Voodoo graphics, is designed specifically for true arcade 3D performance. This unique design allows software developers to incorporate new levels of visual detail for the most realistic 3D gaming possible. But it's not just about looking good. All the features in the world aren't worth much if you can't maintain full motion frame rates.
If you're playing a 3D game without a dedicated 3D accelerator, you're relying on the CPU to do most of the rendering. So what's involved in generating a 3D environment? Three dimensional objects are made up of polygons which contain significant amounts of information. Suppose you want to add features to objects so they appear more realistic. There's texture mapping, perspective correction, MIP mapping, alpha blending, Z-buffering, all the technical stuff you just as soon forget about. These features make 3D look awesome. The trouble is trying to achieve real-time, full motion, 30 frames per second interactivity. Rendering 30 frames per second of a three dimensional object with advanced features is a lot of processing even for a Pentium Pro!
So, what are your options? Either you compromise image quality to maintain frame rate or you sacrifice interactivity to increase visual details. Some choice, huh? Well, with Righteous 3D there's no trade-off. Regardless of the amount of 3D features, Righteous 3D delivers ultra-realistic 3D graphics with full speed animation. Isn't that what 3D is all about? We think so and you will too. Righteous 3D - reality never looked so good.
Glossary of Terms
-
ALPHA BLENDING
-
Alpha values associated with a pixel define the level of transparency for the component color. This technique is widely used to create fog effects.
-
ALPHA CHANNEL
-
Data value associated with levels of transparency that is added on to the Red, Green and Blue values for each pixel. If a system supports an 8-bit alpha channel, it can define 256 levels of transparency for each pixel ranigng from 0 (opaque) to 255 (translucent).
-
ANTI-ALIASING
-
Removing the jaggies, the appearance of jagged edges on diagonal and curved lines. Anti-aliasing is not noticeable in realtime 3D when it isn't there, but it is very apparent when it is. Ideally suited for hardware acceleration because anti-aliasing algorithms take a line of jaggies and practically shades it into smoothness.
-
ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS
-
Support for atmospheric effects in 3D rendering hardware adds levels of detail to an image. Fogging and depth cueing are examples of atmostpheric effects.
-
BI-LINEAR FILTERING
-
A means of determining the best texture pixel to draw to screen by interpolation of the four adjacent pixels in a texture.
-
DEPTH CUEING
-
The farther away an object gets the less visible it becomes. Depth cueing re-creates the impression of objects fading into the distance.
-
DIRECT3D
-
Microsoft's 3D API. Part of their DirectX suite of APIs for multimedia applications. Has received much notice from entertainment software developers and is widely held as responsible for the sudden proliferation of 3D chips.
-
DITHERING
-
A method of calculating the optimal display of 24-bit, true color images at lower color depths of 16 bits and 8 bits. Dithering algorithms can be very complex. Their results vary wildly. Hardware support for dithering is particularly useful in applications where the quality of the image suffer from being displayed with less than 24-bit true color.
-
DOUBLE BUFFERING
-
The technique of writing a frame of grpahics into memory as another frame is being displayed. While double buffering can't increase frame rate, it makes playback appear smoother to the eye.
-
FOGGING
-
Works on the principle that as the object goes into the distance, it fades by a certain amount. Fogging uses blending techniques to simulate the fading and obfuscation of each pixel. The fading in fog may be further controlled by an algorithm that determines the level of fogging more accuratly with distance. Most often pixels are faded linearly.
-
FPS
-
Frames per second. The true measure of realtime 3D applications is their frame rate. Although game developers like to talk about it more than anyone else, fps is an important indicator for all pplications because it considers all the elements that make up a frame of activity: 2D graphics, 3D graphics, audio, video, input, and program logic. Most likely to be the benchmark figure for 3D graphics.
-
FRAME BUFFER
-
Also known as the display buffer or graphics memory. This is a portion of memory that holds the graphics information and refreshes the screen data.
-
GOURAUD SHADING
-
Commonly used algorithm for shading objects.
-
MIP MAPPING
-
Different resolutions of a texture map image are stored in memory to avoid the calculation of texture size, and filtering of texture images, as the viewer moves close to, and away from, textured surfaces.
-
PERSPECTIVE CORRECTED
-
Perspective corrected texture mapping is a must for 3D developers. This technique assesses the look of a texture from different angles to view, then draws and lights the texture appropriately.
-
TEXELS
-
Textured pixels.
-
TEXTURE MAPPING
-
The way an image is modeled to a surface. A building facade would require many modeling faces to display individual bricks, windows, and doors. A texture map of a building front (a picture attached to the surface of a rectangular model) provides a more realistic and less computationally intensive solution.
-
TRI-LINEAR FILTERING
-
A more accurate method of determining the best tevel for display. An average of the bi-linear filters for two pixels is used as a determinant.
-
Z-BUFFER
-
Portion of memory that holds the depth value of pixels.
-
Z-BUFFERING
-
The depth value of every pixel is stored in z-buffer memory. Each pixel's z-buffer value is compared to every other pixels within the same coordinate space, and the lowest z-buffer value pixel is the one that is drawn.
-
Z-SORTING
-
A less acurate method of determining which pixels are drawn. Polygons are basically sorted back to front, and the ones in front are displayed.Z-sorting doesn not take into consideration how objects may coalesce or exist in relation to one another.
Adapted from Interactivity, July 1996 pg. 64
Copyright© 1996 Orchid Technology