WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo • Hacker News Board

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#31

Post by nestoras » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:00 PM UTC

networked wrote: post #28

Cool demo. What caught my attention was this line in the description: >The terrain is procedural, generated offline by a Delphi program (Delphi is a modern version of Pascal). Nowadays I very rarely see new projects use Object Pascal or Delphi. This is somewhat disappointing since I think it really is a fine language that could be a viable alternative to C++ and Java due to its combination of high performance and cle…

Thank you and I completely agree! I hold VCL especially in very high regard. As for Delphi, I think it doesn't get nearly the mindshare it deserves. As a side note, the CAD software we're making in my company is entirely written in Delphi (with some bits in assembly):

http://www.anadelta.com/index-en.php?s=exported

You may recognize the sky :)

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#32

Post by nestoras » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:02 PM UTC

Aurel1us wrote: post #26

Now add the ability to drive with a motocross through the landscape :) Very impressive!

Thank you. In fact, I may add a ship flying and shooting missiles, as soon as I get some free time. This will require the implementation of a shadow algorithm (you'll need a way to gauge the ship's height) and a particle system (for the smoke trails and explosions). Already done that in an old desktop implementation I've kept somewhere.

A motocross would be slightly more difficult :)

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#33

Post by the_french » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:03 PM UTC

mbell wrote: post #25

bjourne wrote: post #6

Looks nice but runs at awfully slow 4-5 fps on my Ubuntu 64bit system. Is Radeon HD 4200 to weak for WebGL or is there something you need to configure?

I'm getting 40fps on a 2012 Macbook Air using Chrome so I doubt its a lack of GPU power, more likely an issue with drivers and/or the compositor.

my retina mbp is getting ~20 fps, seems strange that your air would get double.

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#34

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:12 PM UTC

the_french wrote: post #33

mbell wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting 40fps on a 2012 Macbook Air using Chrome so I doubt its a lack of GPU power, more likely an issue with drivers and/or the compositor.

my retina mbp is getting ~20 fps, seems strange that your air would get double.

[deleted]

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#35

Post by sramsay » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:13 PM UTC

"When I tried to think of a project suitable for learning JavaScript, a terrain flyover demo came to mind."

Me too! But then I re-establish contact with the reality of my actual abilities and create a button which, when pressed, prints "Hello, world!" to an alert window.

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#36

Post by Aardwolf » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:13 PM UTC

Aurel1us wrote: post #26

Now add the ability to drive with a motocross through the landscape :) Very impressive!

Fantastic demo, best thing I've ever seen in webgl in my browser!

Motocross suggestion seconded :)

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#37

Post by LolWolf » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:14 PM UTC

That's... just beautiful. Congrats, great job; saving it for my reading list.

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#38

Post by nestoras » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:20 PM UTC

sramsay wrote: post #35

"When I tried to think of a project suitable for learning JavaScript, a terrain flyover demo came to mind." Me too! But then I re-establish contact with the reality of my actual abilities and create a button which, when pressed, prints "Hello, world!" to an alert window.

Haha thanks :) I've done these things in the past many times, only on different platforms. The real kudos go to the browser guys (especially at Mozilla and Google) for all the superb work they've done on WebGL and JavaScript in general. Learning JavaScript and some of the intricacies of developing for the web has never been more fun! :)

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#39

Post by nestoras » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:22 PM UTC

antoniuschan99 wrote: post #29

really cool demo Stavros!

Thank you! I wish I've been more thorough when I was developing everything and keep a journal. The progression is very interesting. I do have older versions though, I may use them to illustrate some points in future blog posts (when I figure out how to setup a blog :)).

Re: WebGL Terrain Flyover Demo

#40

Post by jallmann » Sun, Mar 10, 2013, 8:24 PM UTC

the_french wrote: post #33

mbell wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm getting 40fps on a 2012 Macbook Air using Chrome so I doubt its a lack of GPU power, more likely an issue with drivers and/or the compositor.

my retina mbp is getting ~20 fps, seems strange that your air would get double.

A retina display has to render 4x the pixels of a regular display, so the slowdown isn't too surprising. Same reason why drawing operations were actually faster on the iPhone 3GS than the 4 after the latter came out.