ATI and NPR (Non-Photorealistic Rendering)

[OCybrManO]

I was looking through City17.net and stumbled upon the feature list for the new Catalyst 3.8 drivers.
Now, I know the drivers themselves are probably a bit of old news by now... but one part stood out to me:

- The introduction of SMARTSHADER™ Effects, a feature that delivers high-end shader effects to older games that lack this functionality. Gamers can now experience their favorite games in a totally new visual environment with stunning new shaders such as Inverse-Color, Sketch, Stylized Black & White and ASCII

They are now building into their drivers what people have been doing to the Quake engine for a long time.

NPRQuake - (Windows) changes the renderer to make Quake look like it is 1) drawn and shaded with a pencil 2) drawn with a pen 3) a blueprint
TEXTMODE QUAKE!!! - (Linux) turns the Quake renderer into a real-time ASCII image generator

Both sites have screenshots.

 

[staddydaddy]

You obviously don't know what shaders are.

 

[OCybrManO]

I know what shaders are.
Please elaborate on your logic.

 

[dawdler]

Yeah, its pretty cool... I love sketch
But if they come out with a cel shader or something similar... Lets just say that the FX looks like stoneage technology

 

[rootbin]

gabe newell had said before that it would be relatively easy to program a cel shader for half-life 2.

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by rootbin
gabe newell had said before that it would be relatively easy to program a cel shader for half-life 2.

Yes, when you can alter the engine. But with this you can play ANY game with a cel shader!