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When did cubemapping appear in hardware

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/When did cubemapping appear in hardware

Shifty Geezer(Posted 2005) [#1]
Quick question. When did cubemapping become a feature of GPUs? Anyone know what model introduced it?


puki(Posted 2005) [#2]
Mmm, perhaps the GeForce2 GTS

Am I right? What do I win? I know we were excited at ID with this particular card - so this may be the baby.

EDIT:

Now, wait, wait!!!

NVIDIA's GeForce 256

Slam-dunk for the "puker"


Shifty Geezer(Posted 2005) [#3]
Yes, a Google (should'a Google'd first, I know!) shows it was the GeForce256, adding hardware TnL+cube mapping. As my program has the option of cubemapped reflection maps or spherical reflection maps I'd like to know a Recommended Spec, which in this case I think is a GPU from AD2000 onwards.


puki(Posted 2005) [#4]
Wait a minute - you can't set up a competition, ask a question, offer a prize then claim you should have just Google'd it yourself.

I hope the mods are looking at this.

I spent several hours on the phone to multiple card manufacturers and industry people - some of which gave me false leads. Someone at ATI even claimed it was yet to be implemented in 3D hardware!!!


Ricky Smith(Posted 2005) [#5]
Puki's got a point there - he should definately win at least a cuddly toy or even a plate of sausages !


Shifty Geezer(Posted 2005) [#6]
Okay. Here's Puki's prize



Ross C(Posted 2005) [#7]
It's emulated by Blitz3d i believe in software.


Ross C(Posted 2005) [#8]
But if that were the case then why would some cards not show it :o)


big10p(Posted 2005) [#9]
Are you arguing with yourself, Ross? Not a good sign. :P


Hotcakes(Posted 2005) [#10]
Some cards (and/or their drivers) pretend to handle it when really they don't.


puki(Posted 2005) [#11]
Another prize for the "puker" - I've actually one quite a few prizes over the past couple of years.


Shifty Geezer(Posted 2005) [#12]
It's not a comp,icated thing. I just use the GraphicsCaps() function to see if cubemaping is enabled and if so, load a cube map, else load a sphere map.

As for my idea of a recommended spec card, post 2000 doesn't seem right either, as some cards (low end) post 2000 don't feature cube mapping. So I'll forget the recommended specs, just have minimum specs and 'anything better is a bonus'!