Live data from Hacker News

BMW i8 in WebGL

car.playcanvas.com

31–40 of 141 posts

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#31

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 am…

Well it's not so much about displaying a single model, but demonstrating the power of physically based rendering using WebGL and the wide range of devices that can be used to view this beautiful content. Current interactive car demos found in official car web sites are much lower quality than this.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#32
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 have, and it's painfully slow, even on my Galaxy S6. A single model at 10fps is mot impressive in the least to me.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#33

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 am…

"So what?" Classic HN.

Why does something have to be revolutionary to enjoy it? Why can't you just enjoy it because it's enjoyable?

Also, there's a huge difference between "it should be this way" and "it is this way." The fact that the person who made this made it the way it should be is impressive, when so few people seem capable of that.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#34
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

A Linux machine with an "Intel Integrated Graphics Controller".

I doubt an equivalent Windows machine would fare better.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#37

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 am…

I'm sorry I'm not keen on making games for only one platform at a time.

Re: BMW i8 in WebGL

#39
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.

The purpose of this visualization is to present a car, which requires a good single model viewer. If this was a link to a more visually appealing .exe game, many of us wouldn't be able to run it, because it would require a specific platform, many would be afraid to run it, and many wouldn't bother to download and install executable just to see a car.
Post reply on HN