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Today
Brian Burke of 3dfx gave Hot Hardware an exclusive inside scoop on
new drivers that will soon be released for the Voodoo3! We've got
the goods here first! Take it away Brian!
The week of July
19th, 3dfx will be releasing a new set of drivers for the Voodoo3.
Besides the usual bug fixes, we have added some user control image
quality techniques to the 3dfx Tweak page in Windows properties. The
increase in our already industry leading image quality is dramatic.
Attached, you will find some screen shots from the new driver using
the new Alpha-blending option along with an explanation of how it
works. You can also see the new properties page at www.voodooextreme.com.
"Alpha-Blending"
101
Alpha-Blending:
Alpha-blending is the most common and one of the most important
methods of blending 3D accelerated games. It is used primarily to
create visual effects like transparency (water or glass),
translucency (artifacts that partially obscure objects, such as
smoke, clouds or explosions), lensflare and reflections. By
optimizing the Alpha-blending settings and employing a new
Alpha-blending technique, we're allowing users to select the image
characteristics that most closely meet their idea of how games
should appear. 3dfx has added three new settings under the
Alpha-blending switch: Automatic, Sharper and Smoother: AUTOMATIC:
Setting this mode allows the driver to determine when to use our new
alpha-blending technique and when not to. This is the Default mode.
SHARPER: This option turns off the alpha-blending technique, which
results in a sharper image with minor dithering that looks like a
"screen door" effect. SMOOTHER: This option activates the
new alpha-blending technique, which results in a smooth, dither-free
image with no screen door effect.
Here shown, are
some screenshots that illustrate the difference in the settings.
These four shots were taken using Hypersnap in a game titled Heretic
II running under OpenGL.
The first is of
a Diamond
Viper 770 based on the TNT2 chipset in 16-bit mode.
Please
click all images for full 640X480 JPG Shots.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
Notice
the screen-door effect above the fire.
Next is a
similar shot using the Voodoo3
3000 with alpha blending set for Sharper.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
We
see a slight screen-door effect, too.
The next image
shows the Voodoo3
in 16-bit mode and Alpha blending set for Smoother.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
The
screen-door effect has virtually disappeared.
Finally, compare
that to the Diamond
Viper 770 in 32-bit,
which reveals only a subtle difference that would be extremely hard
to distinguish in game play, but results in a significant loss in
frame rate.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
Please
click all images for full 640X480 JPG Shots
The next set of
images are from Quake3. The first is of a Diamond Viper 770 based on
the TNT2
chipset in 16-bit mode.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
Notice
the screen-door effect in the explosion.
Next is a
similar shot using the Voodoo3
3000 with alpha blending set for sharper.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
This
reveals the same effect to a lesser degree.
The next image
shows the Voodoo3
in 16-bit mode and Alpha blending set for Smoother.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
Again,
the effect has virtually disappeared.
Finally, compare
that to the Diamond
Viper 770 in 32-bit mode,
which reveals only a subtle difference that would be extremely hard
to distinguish in game play, but results in a significant loss in
frame rate.
Right
click here
to download the BMP.
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