BMW i8 in WebGL • Hacker News Board

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#21

Post by arethuza » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #15

I am perplexed. Modern games are fantastically more visually appealing and contentwise impressive than this. Modern films utilize computer graphics that are far more impressive still. What is it about single model viewer that makes it headline material? It looks nice, though.

I gave it a quick check and it works on multiple desktop browsers and on my iPhone - that's pretty impressive.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#22

Post by lectrick » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:21 PM UTC

Ah, the car that fakes internal combustion engine noise when it's running on electric... No thanks. Nice demo though!

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#23

Post by rimantas » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:22 PM UTC

MayorOfMonkeys wrote: post #17

fsloth wrote: post #15

I am perplexed. Modern games are fantastically more visually appealing and contentwise impressive than this. Modern films utilize computer graphics that are far more impressive still. What is it about single model viewer that makes it headline material? It looks nice, though.

Have you tried it on your mobile? The fact you can experience this kind of content in the mobile browser and even mobile Facebook and Twitter clients without having to visit an app store is new and IMHO, very exciting.

I think it was Cooper who compared this kind of achievements to dancing bear. Yes, the fact that bear is dancing is amusing, but in no way that negates the fact that that's still very lame dance.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#24

Post by onion2k » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:24 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #15

I am perplexed. Modern games are fantastically more visually appealing and contentwise impressive than this. Modern films utilize computer graphics that are far more impressive still. What is it about single model viewer that makes it headline material? It looks nice, though.

This is one of the most impressive bits of WebGL work I've seen recently - https://ga.me/games/polycraft - a full, playable, and actually very fun cel-shaded game that shows off what WebGL is capable of very nicely.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#25

Post by benbou09 » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

dvh wrote: post #2

When you enter and steer the driving wheel and then get out, the wheels are also turned :)

But you can't honk :)

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#26

Post by otabdeveloper1 » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:27 PM UTC

iMark wrote: post #6

I remember waiting 30 minutes for a crappy vrml model of the Enterprise to download over a 28k modem years ago. This is both impressive, and makes me feel very old.

It locks up my browser and takes 20 seconds to render one frame. (I guess that would be 0.05 FPS.)

So: no, not really impressive. Feels like a regression, actually.

(At least the mobile devices of 2015 managed to do 3D acceleration properly. Too bad that desktop never caught up and that the mobile landscape formed by accident due to commoditization, not due to an understanding of open standards.)

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#27

Post by sirival » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:30 PM UTC

otabdeveloper1 wrote: post #26

iMark wrote: post #6

I remember waiting 30 minutes for a crappy vrml model of the Enterprise to download over a 28k modem years ago. This is both impressive, and makes me feel very old.

It locks up my browser and takes 20 seconds to render one frame. (I guess that would be 0.05 FPS.) So: no, not really impressive. Feels like a regression, actually. (At least the mobile devices of 2015 managed to do 3D acceleration properly. Too bad that desktop never caught up and that the mobile landscape formed by accident due to commoditization, not due to an understanding of open standards.)

What device are you testing this on?

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#28

Post by robodale » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:32 PM UTC

Loading...

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#29

Post by forgotmypassw » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:34 PM UTC

The scene looks very nice albeit I'm not sure what's so spectacular about displaying a single model? I've noticed someone saying in the thread that it's impressive because you can view it on mobile, but why wouldn't you? Modern phones are equipped with hardware better than the one we had over a decade ago, and we had 3D games back then, so displaying a single higher poly model on way better hardware doesn't really amuse me. Besides, I don't really dig the whole idea of WebGL, but the damage's done already.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#30

Post by mentos » Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

jasonkester wrote: post #9

To whoever it was a few weeks back who said it looks like the i8 was "giving birth to a Porsche", you were right: Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. As this visualization demonstrates in nice 3d form.

Reminds me more of the Audi R8?