Quote from: bkdc on March 17, 2010, 01:00:50 pm

b) they have a sorting (search )  algorithm that pretty much allows them to easily load only small subsets of the of the 3D points depending on 'camera' view and position/object orientation/perspective/occlusion so that they only have to reconstruct/render the visible geometry

Shading won't work properly (and it doesn't in their videos) since hidden geometry can also contribute to the overall shading of a scene. As a workaround, they may be able to generate/use 'lower quality' models (smaller sample sets) for hidden geometry - but that will still slow it down a lot and invalidate their statement regarding the fact that they only need to process a number of points that's only up to the number of pixels on the screen.

I did wonder about the shading problem, and you're right its quite evident in their videos.  The narrator dismisses this though but I wasn't clear about his reasoning.

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http://hyperfun.org/wiki/doku.php?id=hyperfun:main - a good place to start looking into 'non polygon' things  

nice site.  on their main page they talk about modeling the internal structure of their models, which struck me as interesting.  they're solid (as much as they want to be) in contrast to the hollow models we have now.  imagine breaking a stone in game to reveal a unique jagged rough surface as opposed to some preformed polygon surface. the visual realism would almost supplant the creative description made by the role players (not that it ever could... or could it?).

Their approach completely fails with animation. You would break the rock, wait a while and see the rock broken. There's no way to interpolate between the two. That's why companies will use polygons for the forseeable future.

This issue should be fixed in an upcoming release.

Anfa, what version of the client are  you running?

I checked your new crash report and you are still crashing shader evaluation. Maybe you should try deleting the shadercache.

Your crash report indicates you are crashing in shader evaluation. We need to know the exact graphics card you are using.

Thanks.

Also, did you remember to drag the PlaneShift folder to your Applications folder first?

It still seems to crash in the ATI drivers. The last thing I can suggest is to use an alternative set of drivers, the ATI Omega drivers.