IAM CONFUSED ABOUT THE POLYGON PART OF PC-FX

[darkkenshin99]

I THOUGHT THE POLYGON ENGINE GOT TRASHED AFTER IRON MAN,AND THEY BEEFED THE FMV AND 2D GRAPHICS,SO CAN THE CONSOLE ITS SELF(NOT THE PC-FXGA CARD)CAN PRODUCE POLYGONS?

[Zerojean]

The system specs suggest not, however polygons can be produced under software emulation, check 3D titles like Sentiel on 8bit microcompters, and 16bit flight sims for testament to this.

[darkkenshin99]

i see but it must have been really restricted ,do u know an estimate of the polygons on screen per second that the pc-fx used,or maximum it could produce.

[Zerojean]

Dunno, you might have already seen this but it gives a little insight

http://www.pcenginefx.com/PC-FX/pc-fx_world_-_f_r_-_super_star.html

I doubt too many.

[darkkenshin99]

do u think it could have produce at least 100,000,can do much with less than that.

[dpaint4]

I don't think that many at all.  Why don't you write a small demo for the unit and see for yourself?  I would guess around 2,000. Harrar Kelvin has done some interesting work on this.

[darkkenshin99]

2,000 thats only enough for a low poly character(pc type not one for xbox and such)

[dpaint4]

Yep.  That's about right.  The system was really not meant for high-poly real time characters.  Remeber, it was designed to be the anime gaming platform.  3D was not a goal.

[darkkenshin99]

my final question is, the original pc-fx supported alot more polygons for generating worlds and characters and such,right?but with the final version i would say that amoutn of polygon would be only good to create some sort of specialeffect?its a great console i feel even better knowing its shows polygons on screen(even though the amount is extremely restricted)

[dpaint4]

Well, its interesting that polygons were possible to some degree, but I don't think that's a valid criteria for how good the system was/is. The point, in my opinion, is that the goals that the PC-FX and NEC set out to achieve were achieved, and so I think the PC-FX was successful.

Judging the PC-FX on how many polys it can push is like trying to judge Clint Eastwood on how well he can sing "Like a Virgin".

[darkkenshin99]

by "original pc-fx" iwas talking about the testujin board thats the one i was talking about in the first part of my final question,and i was saying its good cause polygons help to some degree in creating effects like lets say fire or the "fire" coming out of jet engine.

[dpaint4]

Like in the Saturn game, Guardian Heroes, which is technically a 2D game but the backgrounds take advantage of polygons and are BEAUTIFUL!  

Strider for the PS1 did that really well too.

I like the combination of 2D sprites and polygon backgrounds the very most.  Grandia 1, that was amazing.  Especially the Saturn version.

[darkkenshin99]

yes many games in saturn did that like psychic killer taromaru and nights into dreams but the sprites looked a bit pixelated,idont know much of saturns hardware but i think it didnt have anti alias.

[handygrafx]

Hi.  I have been trying to gain information myself about the capabilities of the Ironman | Tetsujin prototype board from 1992.  from what I understand it had some polygon capabilities. more than the final PC-FX that was released in Dec 1994.

Although, there is no way that polygon-producing Ironman | Tetsujin could have produced as many polygons as Playstation, or even the Saturn.


I am going to take a wild, wild guess.  

Playstation: 360,000 flat shaded polys/sec - 180,000 texture mapped, guaraud shaded, lit polygons/sec

Saturn:  100,000 to 200,000 polygons

PC-FX:  10,000 polygons

Ironman | Tetsujin 20,000 to 50,000 polygons

keep in mind that,  the SuperFX chip for SNES Starfox and SVP chip for Genesis Virtua Racing  pushed 5,000 to 10,000 polys. So I would *think* that the PC-FX might be able to do that much itself.   and the Tetsujin | Ironman could've done more.


just hazarding some guesses.

[Keranu]

Those are quite the large images in your sig, Darkkenshin. Is the one with the chrome suit suppose to be Michael Jackson?