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The best example of this exceptional resizeability is Excel's default setting, where the pixels are so distorted and rectangle-shaped that it is very easy to confuse them with a data entry field.
Most users do not even realize these are pixels, and see only data entry fields!
Figure 5: Rendering without grid lines
Figure 6: Rendering with grid lines
- Sub-pixel size grid lines can be used if needed. It is a very useful feature if rows and columns have different sizes. You can check the grid lines function shown in Figure 5 and 6.
- Color of the pixels can be set by 24 bits.
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255x65535 screen resolution which results the uniquely high 16.7 megapixel resolution not found in other 3D engines.
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Astounding 1:256 aspect ratio, which can be set by the Hide/Unhide functions to 4:4, 16:9 or other arbitrary ratios.
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255 screens in an application, so not only the usual 2 but more screen buffers can be used together.
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Built-in zoom function to enlarge or diminish the pixels at will.
It can be said that the Excel-native Cell Graphics surpasses its time and contains a lot of unique and unmatched features which are not accessible in other 3D engines: resizeable pixels, arbitrarily variable aspect ratio, 16.7 megapixel resolution, switchable sub-pixel size grid lines.
On the figure below (Figure 7) the engine can be seen in action (with rendered gridlines). You can start the demo by grabbing our example Excel engine files (enable the macros when Excel asks), pressing the ALT+F8 keys and running the ECG_Demo.
Figure 7: Engine in action (with the ECG rendering subsystem)
The drawback of the ECG is the speed and the absence of some common graphical functions (e.g. line drawing, texture mapping, etc) that must be implemented by the developers.
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By the way, th etop level of letters on a keyboard were also arranged to make spelling TYPEWRITER easier for typewriter seles men who went door to door demonstrating their usage.
And while Excel may not be a modern GPU, it, like the DS, Flash, Shockwave, etc, can be used be used as a commonly available easy to program engine that new programmers and designers can use to make simple games and help ease their way into more meatier and significant projects. They need not worry about graphics, models, or other time consuming assets but purely the scripting and design. Perhaps in some ways, it's the equivalent to MS Paint for artists.
ps: I also used word as a programming editor - styles, outlining, autotext, templates, grammar checking, macros years and years before visual studio. In a lot of ways word is still a better programming editor than any other, even now...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_whSnPErl7c
However, if you have a specialised tool available, it usually beats Excel by a fair margin.
Also, thanks for the Dvorak plug! Having typed with it for almost 20 years, I'm sorry so many people continue to hurt their hands with Qwerty!
Lastly, go ahead and flame me, Ian, but you're dead wrong about Word. If you were really that heavy a coder that far back, you would never have used *that* sucky a program.
Word Perfect was THE choice for anyone who typed until 'doze took over. The old DOS Word was absolutely terrible. (You want to stick in all this formatting crap, but don't give me Reveal Codes? Come on...)
The 'doze version of Word may be today's standard, but it still blows dead bears.
However, even with WP's excellent macro abilities & keyboard re-mapping, I would never have considered using it for coding.
Qedit all the way!
http://www.microtron.org.uk/~craig/Microtron/Projects/XL3Drender/XL3Drender.xls
There are other shapes in that directory that can be rendered.
If I'm understanding this correctly, though, wouldn't it be possible to have 60 sheets and emulate the "60 frames per second" staple we have in traditional video games today? It would certainly sort out the issue of fluidity.
Are you retarded? The author of this article is trying to demonstrate the proof of concept for a change in paradigm with regard to coding structure. He was not attempting to compare the performance of excel data calculations to hardware matrix manipulations. Plus, hardware graphics processes are limited in the size of matrices which can be operated on. Try to work with matrices with thousands, or millions of rows/columns as is done in high energy physics simulations/reconstructions and your GPU is about as as worthless as a Ti-89. Charles Babbage envisioned a "universal machine" which has yet to come to realization. A step away from architecture based paradigms is inevitable. Your gamer oriented thinking is so hardware-centric that it has blinded you from seeing the big, long term picture.
Anyways, this was an awesome artilce, I look forward to the first Excel MMORPG!
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29944.html
That "Excellence" video by Ananasmurska is pretty impressive. It isn't really a 3D engine, but an interesting example of what intelligent people with too much free time can do, with any tool. :)
http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/3563/figure4.png
Indeed *that* is what is genius about the article: the way that it is written! All of the little details and arguments are similarly structured to papers, all-the-while being preposterous when actually considered. While the idea/implementation may not be new, it's the article that is the real cleverness.
The idea is clever, but it is the writing that is truly superb.
It was the only time in my college career that a prof marked a paper "A+++" like it was eBay feedback.
http://www.eeggs.com/items/719.html
And you can fc play these games at work - this is another strong advantage of Excel gaming engine :)
programming that makes good use of your Excel program. It doesn't
matter what your skill level is -- anyone can use it