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August 13, 2008, 01:30 PM ET
UCSD Undergrad Designs Cheap High-Quality Images for 3-D Video Games
An alumnus of the University of California, San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering presented yesterday a technique to create “on the fly” cheap, lightweight and undistorted background images for 3-D video games that he designed while he was still a computer science undergraduate student.
Until now, video game creators who wanted high-quality background images and details for their products had to use costly hand-painted pictures.
“The existing methods for using computer generated noise [degraded video images] to make images for backgrounds and details for 3-D video games are fast, but the images that you get don’t look very good,” said Alex Goldberg, the UCSD alumnus, in a news release. Computer-generated images present artifacts, such as stretch marks and flickering.
Goldberg, working with professors from UCSD and MIT, developed algorithms that improved an existing technique in which small computer programs create many layers of noise that are then superimposed and manipulated to “paint” realistic textures—such as rock, clouds and water—that are used as background for 3D video games.
An additional benefit to Goldberg’s new approach is that the images can be created “on the fly”, as gamers play. Not having to store those images saves memory, a valuable asset for downloadable games.
Goldberg, who is now working for a San Diego-based video game developer, said he’s planning to “provide code for download soon.”—Maria José Viñas
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