For questions regarding graphical - as opposed to text - processing and display.
Use this tag for retro-computing questions related to graphics.
This can be about the way the hardware worked or about software techniques specific to older computers.
Questions tagged [graphics]
208 questions
27
votes
2 answers
What operations could early PC 3D accelerators perform?
As I understand it, a modern GPU is actually just a Turing-complete processor which happens to be heavily optimised for massively data-parallel workloads. (You can even buy "graphics cards" that don't generate any graphics!)
As I understand it,…
MathematicalOrchid
- 3,045
- 1
- 17
- 24
24
votes
6 answers
What techniques were used to reduce the required re-rendering in 3D programs?
Inspired by this GameDev question.
3D rendering is expensive. With 2D games it's easy to not re-write the buffers every frame, like in Super Mario Bros where the PPU is instructed to render the level with an offset:
Image source.
With 3D games,…
wizzwizz4
- 18,543
- 10
- 78
- 144
21
votes
3 answers
When and what was the first 3D acceleration device ever released?
Plain and simple, we know that consumer level 3D acceleration devices roughly appeared in the middle of the 90s, with brands like Matrox, 3DFX, Nvidia and so on.
However, such technology for sure must have been available way before for…
Eric Cartman
- 6,760
- 5
- 35
- 59
20
votes
9 answers
Can modern AI be used to program impressive graphics effects on very low performance home-retrocomputers, in particular 'A 3D-rotating-cube'
Can modern AI be used to program impressive graphics effects on very low performance home-retrocomputers, in particular 'A 3D-rotating-cube', effects that would be too difficult for a human to program on the cheapest machines
( The time-range of…
texttext
- 379
- 2
- 6
7
votes
1 answer
Was there an Evans & Sutherland display system capable of rendering ordinary data as motion through a landscape?
Around 1987, the investment bank I worked for had a high-end graphics device, possibly from Evans & Sutherland, which produced an "animated" display not unlike the view from the front seat of the first car of a roller coaster. Here it was possible…
little wally
- 79
- 1
4
votes
1 answer
Identifying an old one-bit image file format
I've found some code for reading an old image format, and I'm trying to figure out what format it is. Attributes of the file format I've deduced from reading the code:
The image file begins with a two-byte header. The first byte is one-eighth the…
Mark
- 8,556
- 1
- 40
- 63
3
votes
1 answer
Cannot find repGL source anywhere
As stated here, repGL (a library to emulate SGI's IrisGL on top of OpenGL) can be found at this address: ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/pub/grafik/.
I can see the file, indeed (it's named repGL-0.2.tar.gz), but I can't download it since I…
stef
- 39
- 1
3
votes
2 answers
What made channel bleed so bad over coaxial cable?
Using coaxial cable, there was a really bad channel bleed - as shown in this video, putting a NES on channel 3 caused distortion to the static on channels 2 and 4-7.
This distortion was so bad, you could see glimpses of the game (Days of Thunder)…
Zackary
- 605
- 6
- 14
2
votes
0 answers
First GPU with thermal throttling
Pretty much the title - what was the first GPU that reduced clock speeds when it started to overheat instead of simply locking up? Bonus points for first Intel and AMD CPUs too.
Sam
- 421
- 2
- 7