Truform
Encyclopedia
TruForm was an early tessellation implementation created by ATI
and employed in DirectX
8 and OpenGL
graphics cards, on both Mac and Windows. The technology was first employed on the Radeon 8500 in 2001. It was never accepted into the DirectX or OpenGL specifications.
and parallax mapping
that simulate higher mesh detail, curved 3D shapes in games were created with large numbers of triangles. The more triangles are used, the more detailed and thus less polygonal the surface appears. TruForm creates a curved surface using the existing triangles, and tessellates this surface to make a new, more detailed polygonal model. It is designed to increase visual quality, without significantly impacting frame rates, by utilizing hardware processing of geometry.
TruForm was not significantly accepted by game developers because it ideally required the models to be designed with TruForm in mind. To enable the feature without causing visual problems, such as ballooned-up weapons, the models had to have flags identifying which areas were to be tessellated. The lack of industry-wide support of the technique from the competition caused developers to ignore the technology.
In later version of Catalyst drivers, the TruForm feature is removed.
Beginning with Radeon X1000 series
, TruForm was no longer advertised as a hardware feature. However, Radeon 9500 and higher (as well as hardware supporting Shader Model 3.0) include Render to Vertex Buffer feature, which can be used for tessellation applications.http://www.behardware.com/articles/616-2/ati-s-demos-without-vertex-texturing.html In the case of Radeon X1000 series, it supports binding up to 5 R2VB buffers
simultaneously. Tessellation as dedicated hardware has returned in Xenos and Radeon R600
GPUs.
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
and employed in DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
8 and OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
graphics cards, on both Mac and Windows. The technology was first employed on the Radeon 8500 in 2001. It was never accepted into the DirectX or OpenGL specifications.
Overview
Before the adoption of pixel shader-enhanced bump mapping methods such as normalNormal mapping
In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is a technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common use of this technique is to greatly enhance the appearance and details of a low polygon model by...
and parallax mapping
Parallax mapping
Parallax mapping is an enhancement of the bump mapping or normal mapping techniques applied to textures in 3D rendering applications such as video games...
that simulate higher mesh detail, curved 3D shapes in games were created with large numbers of triangles. The more triangles are used, the more detailed and thus less polygonal the surface appears. TruForm creates a curved surface using the existing triangles, and tessellates this surface to make a new, more detailed polygonal model. It is designed to increase visual quality, without significantly impacting frame rates, by utilizing hardware processing of geometry.
TruForm was not significantly accepted by game developers because it ideally required the models to be designed with TruForm in mind. To enable the feature without causing visual problems, such as ballooned-up weapons, the models had to have flags identifying which areas were to be tessellated. The lack of industry-wide support of the technique from the competition caused developers to ignore the technology.
In later version of Catalyst drivers, the TruForm feature is removed.
Beginning with Radeon X1000 series
Radeon R520
ATI's "R520" core is the foundation for a line of DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.0 3D accelerator X1000 video cards. It is ATI's first major architectural overhaul since the "R300" core and is highly optimized for Shader Model 3.0. The Radeon X1000 series using the core was introduced on October 5,...
, TruForm was no longer advertised as a hardware feature. However, Radeon 9500 and higher (as well as hardware supporting Shader Model 3.0) include Render to Vertex Buffer feature, which can be used for tessellation applications.http://www.behardware.com/articles/616-2/ati-s-demos-without-vertex-texturing.html In the case of Radeon X1000 series, it supports binding up to 5 R2VB buffers
simultaneously. Tessellation as dedicated hardware has returned in Xenos and Radeon R600
Radeon R600
The graphics processing unit codenamed the Radeon R600 is the foundation of the Radeon HD 2000/3000 series and the FireGL 2007 series video cards developed by ATI Technologies...
GPUs.
Games with TruForm support
- Counter-StrikeCounter-StrikeCounter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
(ati_subdiv "2.0", ati_npatch "1.0") - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
- Soldier of Fortune
- Soldier of Fortune II: Double HelixSoldier of Fortune II: Double HelixSoldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is a video game created by Raven Software, a sequel to Soldier of Fortune. It was developed using the Quake III: Team Arena engine. Once again, Raven hired John Mullins to act as a consultant on the game...
- Quake (TruQuake Patch)
- Quake 2 (TruQuake2 Patch)
- Unreal TournamentUnreal TournamentUnreal Tournament is a futuristic first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published in 1999 by GT Interactive. Retrospectively, the game has also been referred to as UT99 or UT Classic to differentiate it from its numbered sequels...
(TruUT Patch) - The Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, often simply referred to as Morrowind, is a single-player computer role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, and published by Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft. It is the third installment in The Elder Scrolls series of games, following The Elder Scrolls...
(unofficially, with the FPS Optimizer http://lowgenius.net/index.php/321-morrowind-fps-optimizer) - Madden NFL 2004Madden NFL 2004Madden NFL 2004 is the 14th installment of the Madden NFL series of American football video games. Michael Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is on the cover. New features in Madden 2004 include a new owner mode option that allows the player to control a franchise...
- BugdomBugdomBugdom is a third-person, action, platform computer game developed by Pangea Software for the Macintosh and was included with the iMac DV 2000 and later iBook models, as well as the PC by Gathering of Developers, and later Ideas From the Deep following the acquiring of Gathering via Take-Two...
- Return to Castle WolfensteinReturn to Castle WolfensteinReturn to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software...
- Serious SamSerious SamSerious Sam is the first game in the Serious Sam series. It is a first-person shooter created by the Croatian development house Croteam...
- Unreal Tournament 2003Unreal Tournament 2003Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming. The game is part of the Unreal franchise's series of games, and is a sequel to Unreal Tournament ....
and 2004Unreal Tournament 2004Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...
(must edit the game's ".ini" file and set "UseNPatches=True") - Wolfenstein: Enemy TerritoryWolfenstein: Enemy TerritoryWolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free and open source multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War II...
- Command & Conquer: RenegadeCommand & Conquer: RenegadeCommand & Conquer: Renegade is a first and third person shooter video game developed by Westwood Studios and is part of the Command & Conquer series. It is the only C&C game that uses the first person view...
- Neverwinter NightsNeverwinter NightsNeverwinter Nights , produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames , is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment, but the publisher's financial...
(must edit the game's ".ini" file and set "Enable Truform=1")