Suggestions for a new nVidia 3D demo/test app
I've recently returned to 3D gaming after (finally) being able to get my hands on a pair of nVidia's new glasses in the UK. One thing that struck me after I'd got everything up and running was that the rather basic test application hasn't been updated in the decade or so that nVidia has been producing 3D drivers. As this is everbody's first experience of 3D after purchasing 3D Vision it might be nice to make it a bit more impressive. To that end, here are a few suggestions for new versions:

1. We're looking down a corridor on a starship. R2D2 trundles into view and approaches the camera, stopping just before he gets to screen depth. His holographic projector flickers into life and the image of Princess Leia appears floating in mid air between our eyes and the monitor. "Help me Obi-Wan-nVidia; you're my only hope".

2. A 3D version of the scene in The Shining where Jack Nicholson is hacking through the (screen depth) door with an axe. Splinters fly out of the screen as the wood smashes before Jack sticks his head through the hole in the door (beyond screen depth towards the viewer): "Here's Johnny!".

3. A 3D version of nVidia's Nalu demo in which the Tinkerbell-like main character flies out of the screen, hovering in mid-air between the screen and the viewer. If you hold out your hand it looks like she's standing on it.

4. We're in a deserted house at night with boarded up windows and doors. Sinister groans and shuffling can be heard outside. After panning around the room, the camera zooms in on a boarded-up window, stopping when the window is at screen depth, filling the monitor. Soon the reason for the boards becomes apparent as a hoard of zombies start trying to smash their way in. Glass and wood fly towards the camera and undead hands reach out of the screen to swipe and clutch at the viewer through the holes they've forced.

5. We're sat on the back seat of a rollercoaster as it thunders round the track. Occasionally one of the passengers in front of us drops their candyfloss or loses a hat which flies out of the screen just missing the viewer's head. Somebody a couple of seats in front of us is wearing a long scarf which is streaming back towards us with the G-force. Possibly the whole rollercoaster track is procedurally generated in real time by the GPU giving a different ride every time (and further showcasing the capabilities of nVidia's tech).

6. A motion captured animated skeleton is capering around a 3D scene. Suddenly he becomes aware of the viewer and approaches the camera. He taps on the monitor's glass (from the inside) then hits it harder. A crack appears but the glass holds so he takes a few steps back and plucks his own skull from his shoulders. He winds up like a baseball pitcher and throws the skull at the screen which smashes, sending shards of glass whizzing past the viewer's head. The skull bobs about in mid-air between the monitor and the viewer, cackling maniacally, before flying back through the screen and being caught by the skeleton, who reattaches it with a pop.

7. A 3D fishtank demo which turns your monitor into an aquarium. This would probably be most effective if the camera was stationary and positioned so that the surface of the monitor appears to be one wall of the tank. An assortment of brightly coloured fish dart between pieces of coral and some gently swaying reeds. Bubbles stream up to the surface of the water and a small crab scuttles around the base of the tank, kicking up tiny clouds of sand as he goes. Out of screen effects could be provided by the occasional appearance of a small kitten between the tank and the viewer, trying (but failing) to swipe the fish through the glass.

8. Short clips of some of the new generation of 3D movies like Beowulf.

9. I-MAX style clips showing dramatic 3D - flying over the Niagra Falls or through the Grand Canyon for example.

10. A slideshow of 3D photos.

I think these ideas, or others along similar lines, would also work well as demos in stores and might pull in considerably more people than just a spinning nVidia logo. There could be an "Attract Mode" tickbox in the drivers which would cycle through each of the above in a loop, ideal for demo units in retail outlets.

Has anybody else got any other suggestions?
Cheers,
DD
I've recently returned to 3D gaming after (finally) being able to get my hands on a pair of nVidia's new glasses in the UK. One thing that struck me after I'd got everything up and running was that the rather basic test application hasn't been updated in the decade or so that nVidia has been producing 3D drivers. As this is everbody's first experience of 3D after purchasing 3D Vision it might be nice to make it a bit more impressive. To that end, here are a few suggestions for new versions:



1. We're looking down a corridor on a starship. R2D2 trundles into view and approaches the camera, stopping just before he gets to screen depth. His holographic projector flickers into life and the image of Princess Leia appears floating in mid air between our eyes and the monitor. "Help me Obi-Wan-nVidia; you're my only hope".



2. A 3D version of the scene in The Shining where Jack Nicholson is hacking through the (screen depth) door with an axe. Splinters fly out of the screen as the wood smashes before Jack sticks his head through the hole in the door (beyond screen depth towards the viewer): "Here's Johnny!".



3. A 3D version of nVidia's Nalu demo in which the Tinkerbell-like main character flies out of the screen, hovering in mid-air between the screen and the viewer. If you hold out your hand it looks like she's standing on it.



4. We're in a deserted house at night with boarded up windows and doors. Sinister groans and shuffling can be heard outside. After panning around the room, the camera zooms in on a boarded-up window, stopping when the window is at screen depth, filling the monitor. Soon the reason for the boards becomes apparent as a hoard of zombies start trying to smash their way in. Glass and wood fly towards the camera and undead hands reach out of the screen to swipe and clutch at the viewer through the holes they've forced.



5. We're sat on the back seat of a rollercoaster as it thunders round the track. Occasionally one of the passengers in front of us drops their candyfloss or loses a hat which flies out of the screen just missing the viewer's head. Somebody a couple of seats in front of us is wearing a long scarf which is streaming back towards us with the G-force. Possibly the whole rollercoaster track is procedurally generated in real time by the GPU giving a different ride every time (and further showcasing the capabilities of nVidia's tech).



6. A motion captured animated skeleton is capering around a 3D scene. Suddenly he becomes aware of the viewer and approaches the camera. He taps on the monitor's glass (from the inside) then hits it harder. A crack appears but the glass holds so he takes a few steps back and plucks his own skull from his shoulders. He winds up like a baseball pitcher and throws the skull at the screen which smashes, sending shards of glass whizzing past the viewer's head. The skull bobs about in mid-air between the monitor and the viewer, cackling maniacally, before flying back through the screen and being caught by the skeleton, who reattaches it with a pop.



7. A 3D fishtank demo which turns your monitor into an aquarium. This would probably be most effective if the camera was stationary and positioned so that the surface of the monitor appears to be one wall of the tank. An assortment of brightly coloured fish dart between pieces of coral and some gently swaying reeds. Bubbles stream up to the surface of the water and a small crab scuttles around the base of the tank, kicking up tiny clouds of sand as he goes. Out of screen effects could be provided by the occasional appearance of a small kitten between the tank and the viewer, trying (but failing) to swipe the fish through the glass.



8. Short clips of some of the new generation of 3D movies like Beowulf.



9. I-MAX style clips showing dramatic 3D - flying over the Niagra Falls or through the Grand Canyon for example.



10. A slideshow of 3D photos.



I think these ideas, or others along similar lines, would also work well as demos in stores and might pull in considerably more people than just a spinning nVidia logo. There could be an "Attract Mode" tickbox in the drivers which would cycle through each of the above in a loop, ideal for demo units in retail outlets.



Has anybody else got any other suggestions?

Cheers,

DD

#1
Posted 05/12/2009 05:23 AM   
These are great ideas.
These are great ideas.

#2
Posted 05/12/2009 06:48 AM   
[quote name='DickDastardly' post='540107' date='May 12 2009, 01:23 AM']5. We're sat on the back seat of a rollercoaster as it thunders round the track. Occasionally one of the passengers in front of us drops their candyfloss or loses a hat which flies out of the screen just missing the viewer's head. Somebody a couple of seats in front of us is wearing a long scarf which is streaming back towards us with the G-force. Possibly the whole rollercoaster track is procedurally generated in real time by the GPU giving a different ride every time (and further showcasing the capabilities of nVidia's tech).[/quote]

Personally, I kinda like the nvidia 3d demo image... although I guess it is kinda basic, but it's still effective. That image was my first time ever seeing 3d on my (or any) computer, and I was duly impressed.

However, I love your rollercoaster idea. I was just thinking yesterday that somebody should really film a stereoscopic 3d movie of a rollercoaster ride. :D A 3d graphics rendering of such would be equally awesome as a demo.

Especially since so many of us still can't get that stupid Medusa thing to actually work. :unsure:
[quote name='DickDastardly' post='540107' date='May 12 2009, 01:23 AM']5. We're sat on the back seat of a rollercoaster as it thunders round the track. Occasionally one of the passengers in front of us drops their candyfloss or loses a hat which flies out of the screen just missing the viewer's head. Somebody a couple of seats in front of us is wearing a long scarf which is streaming back towards us with the G-force. Possibly the whole rollercoaster track is procedurally generated in real time by the GPU giving a different ride every time (and further showcasing the capabilities of nVidia's tech).



Personally, I kinda like the nvidia 3d demo image... although I guess it is kinda basic, but it's still effective. That image was my first time ever seeing 3d on my (or any) computer, and I was duly impressed.



However, I love your rollercoaster idea. I was just thinking yesterday that somebody should really film a stereoscopic 3d movie of a rollercoaster ride. :D A 3d graphics rendering of such would be equally awesome as a demo.



Especially since so many of us still can't get that stupid Medusa thing to actually work. :unsure:

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#3
Posted 05/12/2009 04:25 PM   
These are cool ideas for a demo, but I would like to hear some moe "boring" ideas for an actual test. Like for some kind of calibration. You should be able to see a test image to measure how much ghosting you're getting and maybe some color calibration especially for anaglyph users. They should be able to adjust their display colors with a test pattern to match whatever colors are on their glasses. I think there's enough room in the driver for both this and a cool demo.

Oh yeah, one good demo would be to show the functioning of the 3d hotkey controls so that new users can get some understanding about how to use them.

Or how about if there's a 3d preview for the latest 3d movie that the computer could download although I think this should be optional. It would be nice to see the test demo regularly replaced with something current. You should be able to keep a copy of it too. I think this is a great idea. nvidia could even get some revenue from the movie companies. Awesome.

edit: oh yeah, the 3d clip would not be a 3d rendering and so not really a good test.

Nvidia has some cool demos on their website to test hardware capabilities - shaders and stuff. They should just draw from those.
These are cool ideas for a demo, but I would like to hear some moe "boring" ideas for an actual test. Like for some kind of calibration. You should be able to see a test image to measure how much ghosting you're getting and maybe some color calibration especially for anaglyph users. They should be able to adjust their display colors with a test pattern to match whatever colors are on their glasses. I think there's enough room in the driver for both this and a cool demo.



Oh yeah, one good demo would be to show the functioning of the 3d hotkey controls so that new users can get some understanding about how to use them.



Or how about if there's a 3d preview for the latest 3d movie that the computer could download although I think this should be optional. It would be nice to see the test demo regularly replaced with something current. You should be able to keep a copy of it too. I think this is a great idea. nvidia could even get some revenue from the movie companies. Awesome.



edit: oh yeah, the 3d clip would not be a 3d rendering and so not really a good test.



Nvidia has some cool demos on their website to test hardware capabilities - shaders and stuff. They should just draw from those.

#4
Posted 05/13/2009 12:01 PM   
You must be a writer DD. Those are fantastic ideas for S3D demos. I enjoyed reading them, thanks.

Nvidia should take listen. The star wars scene would have put me in "must buy" mode if I had seen it first.
You must be a writer DD. Those are fantastic ideas for S3D demos. I enjoyed reading them, thanks.



Nvidia should take listen. The star wars scene would have put me in "must buy" mode if I had seen it first.

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#5
Posted 05/13/2009 12:47 PM   
Yeah, the R2D2 Hologram is a classic as well as other Starwars hologram moments, but I would also enjoy a Thumbwars version. /haha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':haha:' /> It's a cute/funny imitation that's pretty entertaining. Google it.

By the way, the same creator made Santa vs. the Snowman in 3d. It's OK if you're 11 or young at heart.
Yeah, the R2D2 Hologram is a classic as well as other Starwars hologram moments, but I would also enjoy a Thumbwars version. /haha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':haha:' /> It's a cute/funny imitation that's pretty entertaining. Google it.



By the way, the same creator made Santa vs. the Snowman in 3d. It's OK if you're 11 or young at heart.

#6
Posted 05/13/2009 06:08 PM   
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