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nGENE

Started by WojciechToman Dec 5, 2011 at 2:04 PM 16 replies 5.2k views

Original Post

Dec 5, 2011 at 2:04 PM

This image shows current state of my 3D framework, nGENE. The list of updates is very long including improved HDR rendering (several new tone mapping operators), addition of instancing, improved clouds, improved water (you can read my article about this here), improved shadows (addition of Variance Shadow Mapping), improved SSAO, addition of screen-space God rays etc.

You can track changes on my blog. The new release should happen around January/February 2012.

There are also three new videos available. You can watch them on Video tab or on Youtube.

I'm also looking for people eager to help. I lack good 3D models/textures so I can't create any good demo showing all capabilities. So if you're interested in helping me, drop me a message or leave comment here.

Click here to view the iotd

Amr0

Dec 5, 2011 at 7:52 PM

I've been checking the ngene site from time to time to check for updates and I honestly thought due to lack of updates that it was dead. It's good to hear you're back working on it again. Looking good there. I'll continue keeping an eye on it. Keep up the good work.

Florian22222

Dec 5, 2011 at 9:21 PM

Looks pretty awesome. Why are you developing a graphics engine? Do you want to develop a game after or what´s the purpose of this?

rioki

Dec 6, 2011 at 9:52 AM

Looks nice like always. The water really improved over the last time. I can't say I like the depth of field effect, even though it is properly executed. The clouds look kind of wonky and animate too fast. One minor point is, you apparently just captured the engine output, which is fine, but you definitely need mouse smoothing. The video really seems to stutter when you move the mouse..

The reason I don't like depth of field in general is, I just don't think it applies well to simulating human vision, that automatically puts everything into focus and the brain works really hard to eliminate the remaining focus issues. But that is a personal taste.

WojciechToman

Author

WojciechToman

Dec 6, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Thank you guys. I really appreciate your opinions.

@Florian22222: it's my hobby. I mean I love programming graphics in technology (I do it in my free time), gameplay is not so much fun to me. However, I plan to create a game and most of the recent changes are motivated by this goal.

@rioki: I created depth of field based on the camera lens rather than human eye (as I agree it doesn't work well for this purpose), i.e. it is possible to set a focal length and aperture. I further improved clouds yesterday so next time they should look a bit better. And thanks for your comment on the mouse.

Pthalicus

Dec 6, 2011 at 11:24 PM

This is lovely, thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to follow your blog for future updates.

L. Spiro

1,026

L. Spiro

Dec 7, 2011 at 1:33 AM

You can get good test models and textures here: http://www.gfx-3d-model.com/
And here: http://gfxfree.com/
The latter has recently been changing their site and downloads are temporarily down, but it should be back soon.

L. Spiro

Florian22222

Dec 7, 2011 at 10:48 PM

interesting. i thought there were more programmers interested in gameplay then in graphics. It´s good that there are both types ;)

WojciechToman

Author

WojciechToman

Dec 8, 2011 at 11:55 AM

@YogurtEmperor: thanks for the links

@Florian22222: then who would code engines and graphic effects ?

Vexator

Dec 8, 2011 at 1:46 PM

i'm impressed! very good work!

i just finished watching the latest video on your blog and noticed that the "god rays" sometimes seem to come from other directions than the sun.. near at the end of the video, you're moving the camera from left to right and the sun is at the top center of the screen, but the rays seem to come from the right edge of the screen.

coderx75

116

coderx75

Dec 8, 2011 at 2:48 PM

That is beautiful! Unfortunately, I'm one of the programmers more interested in gameplay and this just makes me realize how much my current project looks like ASS! =D