nestoras

8 ms·

1.
by nestoras 14y ago
When I started development, I didn't know that DOM controls could overlap, let alone lay over a WebGL canvas :) I had zero HTML (and general web development) knowledge at the time. Since I have some experience doing this kind of stuff, inst
2.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you. You're right, that's how learning is done :)
3.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! Building a GUI is quite challenging and very interesting as well :)
4.
by nestoras 14y ago
There is only one vertex buffer per patch that contains all of the vertices. Index buffers are being used, all of them pre-generated of course and uploaded to the graphics card. Rendering a patch then becomes a simple matter of selecting th
5.
by nestoras 14y ago
That was the behavior in the early development stages. I wanted to include both behaviors for educational purposes (it is very instructive to be able to observe what happens when you change the rendering window and how the frustum adapts -
6.
by nestoras 14y ago
Very good question! Actually, I can't increase the maximum without going to two bytes per elevation. All of the (top) plateaus are at a height equivalent to 255. Q: OK, why not put them a bit lower than that, with some variety between peaks
7.
by nestoras 14y ago
Does C++ still have endless opening and closing braces? :)
8.
by nestoras 14y ago
Yes, that has been a feature of the original Pascal design, since the 1970s. Very useful for catching out of range errors.
9.
by nestoras 14y ago
Yes, they are generated offline. It's the most time consuming step when generating the terrain. Doing the lighting and shadow generation in real-time (during tile initialization) is a very interesting problem! The great advantage is the ban
10.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! I know what you mean about the fan :) For learning, you can try game development sites, graphics programming books, online Geomipmapping tutorials (for terrain stuff), forum discussions when facing problems... However, the most i
11.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! Quite frankly, I'm surprised the demo even runs (I don't have a smartphone currently). On what device did you test it?
12.
by nestoras 14y ago
I agree! Three.js is excellent and already a de facto standard for developing in 3D. However, some points: 1. As the demo stands, it doesn't really need a 3D engine. Including one (any one) wouldn't help with anything, except for maybe skip
13.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! Can't say for sure, because I didn't make it all in one go. The first time I opened the browser with the intent of developing for the web was a year and a half ago. During that time, I've built some other things as well (a 3D gra
14.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you :) I'm glad that you liked the write-up as well. Yes, I've received many requests for the source code. I'll clean it up and make it public as soon as I find some time.
15.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! I wish I've been more thorough when I was developing everything and keep a journal. The progression is very interesting. I do have older versions though, I may use them to illustrate some points in future blog posts (when I figur
16.
by nestoras 14y ago
Haha thanks :) I've done these things in the past many times, only on different platforms. The real kudos go to the browser guys (especially at Mozilla and Google) for all the superb work they've done on WebGL and JavaScript in general. Lea
17.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you. In fact, I may add a ship flying and shooting missiles, as soon as I get some free time. This will require the implementation of a shadow algorithm (you'll need a way to gauge the ship's height) and a particle system (for the smo
18.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you and I completely agree! I hold VCL especially in very high regard. As for Delphi, I think it doesn't get nearly the mindshare it deserves. As a side note, the CAD software we're making in my company is entirely written in Delphi (
19.
by nestoras 14y ago
You can accelerate by pressing the down arrow key and even overwhelm the tile prefetcher by pressing the 'O' key and accelerating even further (this is not a very publicized fact due to bandwidth concerns :)). Thanks for the kind words!
20.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! I didn't have time to implement image-space occlusion queries, plus I wasn't sure of the level of support they have on mobile hardware (not that this demo will run on anything mobile for the time being :)). I'm shooting a grid of
21.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thanks CamperBob2! :)
22.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you :) I'll clean it up a bit and make it public soon!
23.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you :)
24.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thanks :) I had a lot of fun making it!
25.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you :) The technology has matured to such an extent that I think we'll see many great things in the immediate future.
26.
by nestoras 14y ago
I think it's an issue with hardware acceleration on Linux :(
27.
by nestoras 14y ago
Thank you! I'm the guy who made it. It's very nice hearing these words from you. I remember checking out your blog many times in the past :)
28.
by nestoras 14y ago
It's not only the graphics. I am a few years older than the original poster and I very vividly remember the game that blew me away when I was (about) the same age: Thanatos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVSSxwXkPjE This game was simply
29.
by nestoras 15y ago
I clicked reply so that I could tell you that for a moment I envied you. Taking pride in your work while not being too concerned with the clock sounds to me like a perfectly balanced life to pursue. I take extreme pride in my work and I am
30.
by nestoras 15y ago
People outside the US need an invite for some reason. Can't guess why.

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