Isn't it nice to know that M$ hasn't completely corrupted Bungie already! Halo will still come to Macs and PCs! Anyway, I'm assuming that Halo uses something like the ROAM algorithm/method/whatever which can do continuous level of detal terrain based on height maps (It does it very fast, this is the method used by Tread Marks), www.gamasutra.com has a doc called SimpleROAM (w/source) which gives a demo of this. So you take only the triangles that are in your view frustrum, after they've been calculated for ROAM rendering, then you can do physics and collision detection, which then affects the IK. That's my guess. It's not that hard to do all that stuff. Oni has HUGE levels (using Oct Trees to do hidden surface removal and collision detection), inverse kinematics, motion blur, and, best of all, motion interpolation (so the computer calculates steps between animation sequences, giving you extremely smooth animations and the ability to do switch between tons of really cool moves realistically... i.e. not like TombRaider or games like that, but with smoother and more accurate and realistic animation than Q3 or UT).

Morgan

Anyway, the point I was trying to get accross is that once you get all your polygons sorted, clipped, and culled, quickly enough, you have time to put in pretty much whater you want (if you can make is relatively fast).

Edited by - Morgan on July 22, 2000 11:01:03 PM

That''s the way I''ve been looking at it, but it was due to the fact that they were going to be one of the primary developers for the X-box that made them waiver. But, we''re all going to get it now, so every body should calm down.

Morgan