If anyone has any suggestions on graphics related articles that they would like to read, feel free to comment on them. I feel like I am fairly good at explaining technical topics, and enjoy diving into a particular algorithm. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!
On New Software Rendering IdeasI am also working on a new software renderer that is very modularized and flexible. I had originally started this project back in October 2006, but stopped due to a hectic schedule. Recently I have been thinking about it again and will pick it up for a while.
The basic idea is to implement a 'processor' for each section of the existing, well known graphics pipeline. However, the interface between the processors and the memory buffers is kept very abstract. With abstract connections between the processors, new and unusual processors can be added in without really changing very much about the system.
This allows the application programmer to chain together various processors, which effectively extends the pipeline to other types of processing. So instead of having the app generate a procedural mesh, then send it to the regular pipeline, the app can just send in the basic parameters to a pipeline that includes a procedural vertex generator linked to the input of the vertex shader.
The overall design was inspired by the DirectX 10 design document (you can get it by searching here). The addition of the geometry shader really got my brain going about what else could be achieved. There will certainly be more comments on this in the next couple of weeks...
