3dfx Voodoo4 / Voodoo5 Comdex 99 Preview

3dfx did show a demonstration of T-Buffer effects using Quake3. Id has given 3dfx the source code in order to implement such effects and a patch is planned for release when boards are available. The effects they had implemented so far were motion blur on objects and players as well as a "drunken sailor" effect when a player received damage. The latter effect was similar to blurry vision. The final effects that will be implemented in the patch have yet to be determined, but the demos clearly show the potential of T-Buffer effects in situations other than cinematic sequences.

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Full scene anti-aliasing was of course shown as well, but as we’ve noted before, FSAA will not require any game patches or special programming. We were told, however, that FSAA will effectively half the fillrate when enabled. With so much raw power, it shouldn’t matter too much.

The current stance on Transform and Lighting from 3dfx is that it is one of the important steps forward in 3D gaming, but it is simply not necessary now or even 6 months from now. With relatively few games offering truly compelling features that require T&L, 3dfx may well be correct here. Although they wouldn't come righ out and say it, they strongly suggested that we could expect the next 3dfx part to have T&L support.