Could This Graphics Tech Revolutionize the Way Video Games Look?

Or is the technology that powers Euclideon’s “Unlimited Detail” graphics engine another contender that hopes to unseat the traditional way of modeling and rendering things in 3D (with polygons)? Whatever Euclideon’s fate, it’s potentially a very exciting development.

Euclideon’s Unlimited Detail tech, which uses “tiny little atoms” to display 3D objects instead of polygons, is something we saw in action last year. The graphics tech trades hard edged triangles for point cloud data, offering more realistic 3D models and stuffing huge amounts of detail on screen.

The Brisbane, Australia based tech company says it can pack some 15 million converted polygons in every square meter of game space with its method, up to 100,000 times the detail of polygonal tech.

And it has new tech that can convert polygonal 3D models—and scanned-in real-world objects—into point cloud data. Euclideon CEO Bruce Robert Dell explains how it all works in the tech demo video above.

Euclideon will have an uphill battle convincing game developers to switch from the tried and true way of creating video game art assets—and we won’t be surprised to see “tiny little atoms” catch on as well as previously hailed replacements for polygonal models—but it sure is fun to look at. To listen to, maybe not so much, but those rocks sure look damn rocky.

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