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Scribbles
Unsent
Joined: 25 Apr 2003
Posts: 1063
Location: Spokane, WA. US of A |
my brother went to Electronics Boutique the other day and picked up our copy of Deus Ex 2: Invisible War. he first took it to his apartment to install on his computer. i ask him about it the next day and he tells me that we both need to buy a video card that supports "Pixel Shading" (we both have the same video card Radeon 64 mb). so i says, WTF (i actually say the letters W-T-F) is Pixel shading? and so far neither of us have found anyone that knows the answer. does anyone here have an answer for me?
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Broken in Exile |
Fri Jan 09, 2004 2:16 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I'm not a programmer or graphics specialist so this is a simplified explanation. Older versions of DirectX had specific and limited functions that only applied to groups of pixels. DirectX 8 (and 8.1 improved it further) included support for Pixel Shaders - the ability to apply lighting and other effects on an individual per pixel basis. This means a programmer can produce any special effect they can imagine/design without being limited to the functions built in to DirectX.
It's often used for pretty water, spectacular lighting effects and things like that. Only GF3, GF4 Ti and higher (not GF4 MX) and Radeon 8500 and higher cards support these functions.
Did I get it right that time, goshuto? 
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:28 am |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
Pixel shading is a method of applying special rendering effects to individual pixels, a way to describe the interaction of surfaces with light. It's useful for simulating accurate surfaces such as fur, cloth, metals, glass, rock, and other highly detailed surfaces. It came with DirectX 8.
The highly-detailed water in Morrowind was a result of pixel shading, for example.
EDIT
Dhruin beat me to it. Took me too long to think about it  . |
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Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:35 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Ah, but your answer was more elegant, as always.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:38 am |
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goshuto
Wanderer
Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 1142
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quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Did I get it right that time, goshuto?
Have you been reading on the subject? 
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"Tree stuck in cat. Firemen baffled."--Simcity 3K
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."--Soren Aabye Kierkegaard |
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Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:47 am |
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