3DMark 05 Artice in Aussie mag

DavoNogo · Sep 16, 2004, 04:50 AM

Just though you guys would like to know, there's an article on 3DMark 05 in the latest issue of Australia's Mag, Atomic.
I have it scanned as a 4.47mb pdf, but i wouldn't have a clue where/how to upload it

WisMerHill · Sep 16, 2004, 09:31 AM

Nice! , shame i have limited bandwidth else i could host i for you

well, there will probably be others like chaos who can host it for you if you don't have any space to upload it to.

DavoNogo · Sep 17, 2004, 12:29 AM

Here's a little snippet from the article:

To appreciate 3DMark05, one has to look at FutureMark's fourth and current release, 3DMark03. Up until 03, the engine used to create 3DMark has been the MAX-FX engine from Remedy Entertainment originally created for Max Payne. With DirectX 9.0 though, Mutlitexturing went out of favour and shaders became the central element. The aging MAX-FX engine wasn't designed with this in mind and the decision was made to start over with a new engine bred for DirectX 9.0 shaders. The end result was 3DMark03, a well received benchmark that didn't however blow away the audience in the same way as its predecessor. The major issue was that it didn't exlpoit the possibilities afforded by DirectX 9.0; out of the four tests, only Mother Nature used DirectX 9.0 features. At the time, DX9.0 hardware sales had not reached critical mass. Now DX9.0 has trickled its way down to mainstream, the developers of 3DMark are finally making the benchmark that will have today's DirectX9.0 cards struggling under the strain and begging for release. Just the way we like it!
Bear in mind: if your card doesn't support pixel shaders 2.0 or higher, don't bother with 3DMark05. You find any half-assed DirectX8.0 tests here; every test will use DirectX9.0 features in one form or another. In fact they are designed for the second generation of DX9.0 GPUs, those that support up to PS3.0
The most radical change in 3DMark05 is the way shaders are actually created - a shader describes the relationship between the type of material and a type of light. The problem is everyone wants to see lots of shader effects and there is no shortage of material/light combinations. Skin lit with a point light is different if lit with a directional light. Ambient lit metal has different shader code to ambient lit marble. 'In an actual game with enormous amount of graphics content, different objects with different materials and different shaders for all those, the total amount of shaders get completely out of hand and become very hard to manage' says Patric Ojala, the senior manager of benchmark development at Futuremark.
The solution they came up with was to automate this process and build shaders as they are needed. Although there are many material/light combinations, a particular material will behave similarly (though not the same) for different types of lights. With a dynamic shader engine, you can write the shader once and let the engine generate the different versions of the shader for different lights. Based on what artists specify, the engine can even create shaders on the fly. Patric explains: "Our solution is to procedually make only the shaders that are needed for rendering the next frame, If a new material appears in the next frame, we make a shader for it, but no sooner than that. This way the code and content is easier to manage, and the rendering engine is more flexible."
While 3DMark03 used mostly DirectX8.0 level shaders, 3DMark05 has really cranked up what DX9.0 can do. Materials are significantly more complex, and where appropriate, previous hacks have been replaced with more robust solutions. Many of the materials do Blinn-Phong shading or some modification to it.

WisMerHill · Sep 17, 2004, 12:11 PM

nice! thx for the info so far. i'm kinda curious what this version will bring considering all the controversy that surrounds 3DM03.

Zardon · Sep 17, 2004, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WisMerHill

Nice! , shame i have limited bandwidth else i could host i for you

well, there will probably be others like chaos who can host it for you if you don't have any space to upload it to.

3dmark05 is still in development stages, we have been helping to test it with futuremark for quite some time - this magazine have either broken NDA or have leaked it from someone who has.

Zardon · Sep 17, 2004, 01:39 PM

Ok I just checked with futuremark, they are printed with authorisation ..... but if I was to host them the magazine could sue for breach of copyright !

but if someone else wanted to host it.......

pr0digal jenius · Sep 17, 2004, 02:56 PM

if you send it to me i'll see if i can't get the images down to manageable size, type out the text, and get them on imageshack if you like, but i have no host atm

DavoNogo · Sep 19, 2004, 04:10 AM

would it be ok if i sent it to ya via msn?

The_Neon_Cowboy · Sep 19, 2004, 04:29 AM

what new enigine are they useing for 3dmark05? then?

will it run the same on all hardwre and be compairable acress the bord like only 2001se and eariler was...

or will it be undpendable and run diffrently in diffrent situation/configerations like 03 and be compairable only between simular setups like ati card vs ati card or nv card vs nv card... ati vs nvidia or vs s3 or anoy one else would be uncompairable. least not fairly. God I hope they don't pull another 3dmark03

Sep 16, 2004, 04:50 AM	#1
DavoNogo DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	3DMark 05 Artice in Aussie mag Just though you guys would like to know, there's an article on 3DMark 05 in the latest issue of Australia's Mag, Atomic. I have it scanned as a 4.47mb pdf, but i wouldn't have a clue where/how to upload it

Sep 16, 2004, 09:31 AM	#2
WisMerHill DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 468 Rep Power: 0	Nice! , shame i have limited bandwidth else i could host i for you well, there will probably be others like chaos who can host it for you if you don't have any space to upload it to. __________________ [color=sandybrown][color=white] [/color] [color=white][color=white]M[/color][color=white]y Computer[/color]: [/color][color=white]3DMark2001[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]3Dmark2003[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]3DMark200[/color][color=white]5[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]PCMark2004[/color][/color]

Sep 17, 2004, 12:11 PM	#4
WisMerHill DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 468 Rep Power: 0	nice! thx for the info so far. i'm kinda curious what this version will bring considering all the controversy that surrounds 3DM03. __________________ [color=sandybrown][color=white] [/color] [color=white][color=white]M[/color][color=white]y Computer[/color]: [/color][color=white]3DMark2001[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]3Dmark2003[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]3DMark200[/color][color=white]5[/color][color=white] - [/color][color=white]PCMark2004[/color][/color]

Sep 19, 2004, 04:29 AM	#9
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	what new enigine are they useing for 3dmark05? then? will it run the same on all hardwre and be compairable acress the bord like only 2001se and eariler was... or will it be undpendable and run diffrently in diffrent situation/configerations like 03 and be compairable only between simular setups like ati card vs ati card or nv card vs nv card... ati vs nvidia or vs s3 or anoy one else would be uncompairable. least not fairly. God I hope they don't pull another 3dmark03 __________________

Sep 17, 2004, 12:29 AM	Thread Starter #3
DavoNogo DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	Here's a little snippet from the article: To appreciate 3DMark05, one has to look at FutureMark's fourth and current release, 3DMark03. Up until 03, the engine used to create 3DMark has been the MAX-FX engine from Remedy Entertainment originally created for Max Payne. With DirectX 9.0 though, Mutlitexturing went out of favour and shaders became the central element. The aging MAX-FX engine wasn't designed with this in mind and the decision was made to start over with a new engine bred for DirectX 9.0 shaders. The end result was 3DMark03, a well received benchmark that didn't however blow away the audience in the same way as its predecessor. The major issue was that it didn't exlpoit the possibilities afforded by DirectX 9.0; out of the four tests, only Mother Nature used DirectX 9.0 features. At the time, DX9.0 hardware sales had not reached critical mass. Now DX9.0 has trickled its way down to mainstream, the developers of 3DMark are finally making the benchmark that will have today's DirectX9.0 cards struggling under the strain and begging for release. Just the way we like it! Bear in mind: if your card doesn't support pixel shaders 2.0 or higher, don't bother with 3DMark05. You find any half-assed DirectX8.0 tests here; every test will use DirectX9.0 features in one form or another. In fact they are designed for the second generation of DX9.0 GPUs, those that support up to PS3.0 The most radical change in 3DMark05 is the way shaders are actually created - a shader describes the relationship between the type of material and a type of light. The problem is everyone wants to see lots of shader effects and there is no shortage of material/light combinations. Skin lit with a point light is different if lit with a directional light. Ambient lit metal has different shader code to ambient lit marble. 'In an actual game with enormous amount of graphics content, different objects with different materials and different shaders for all those, the total amount of shaders get completely out of hand and become very hard to manage' says Patric Ojala, the senior manager of benchmark development at Futuremark. The solution they came up with was to automate this process and build shaders as they are needed. Although there are many material/light combinations, a particular material will behave similarly (though not the same) for different types of lights. With a dynamic shader engine, you can write the shader once and let the engine generate the different versions of the shader for different lights. Based on what artists specify, the engine can even create shaders on the fly. Patric explains: "Our solution is to procedually make only the shaders that are needed for rendering the next frame, If a new material appears in the next frame, we make a shader for it, but no sooner than that. This way the code and content is easier to manage, and the rendering engine is more flexible." While 3DMark03 used mostly DirectX8.0 level shaders, 3DMark05 has really cranked up what DX9.0 can do. Materials are significantly more complex, and where appropriate, previous hacks have been replaced with more robust solutions. Many of the materials do Blinn-Phong shading or some modification to it.

Sep 17, 2004, 01:39 PM	#6
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Ok I just checked with futuremark, they are printed with authorisation ..... but if I was to host them the magazine could sue for breach of copyright ! but if someone else wanted to host it.......

Sep 17, 2004, 02:56 PM	#7
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	if you send it to me i'll see if i can't get the images down to manageable size, type out the text, and get them on imageshack if you like, but i have no host atm

Sep 19, 2004, 04:10 AM	Thread Starter #8
DavoNogo DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	would it be ok if i sent it to ya via msn?