Hi everyone!  I'm David Filip, the new guy at Guru3D who'll keep you updated with weekly editorials on video game news, trends, and current events.  That's about as much hooplah as anyone needs for an intro, especially since the article itself deals with promotion issues already. 

I'm sure you've read all the hype from 3dfx about their new proprietary T-Buffer technology.  They said it would enable hardware acceleration for five important special effects (Depth of Field Blur, Motion Blur, Soft Shadows, Soft Reflections and Full-Scene Anti-Aliasing) that will take 3D games another step toward the visuals we've come to expect from prerendered cut-scenes.  Although this statement is technically true, you may not be impressed with the T-Buffer's effects on your gaming experience. 

The first and most obvious signs that the T-Buffer is better suited to a cinematic cutscene than a game are the two blurring effects.  Depth of Field Blur works just like a camera lens that blurs the foreground while focusing on a distant object, and then blurs the distance when shifting to view a nearer object. 

Motion Blur simulates the effect of objects that move too quickly to be caught by the human eye or a camera.  To achieve this effect, the T-Buffer overlays several duplicates of the speedy object in many degrees of transparency.  Try going into your Windows Control Panel/Mouse/Motion and click "Show pointer trails" for a preview of the effect.  You won't get the transparencies, but you'll see a basic idea of what to expect, and you can use your own judgment to decide how excited you should be about it. 

Soft Shadows and Soft Reflections help to make shadows and reflections of light fade gradually and naturally from their edges.  Full-Scene Anti-Aliasing will enable the T-Buffer to smooth out jagged polygonal edges, making objects that once had the effect of "stairstepped" diagonal lines and curves seem much smoother.  Best of all, this will enhance the quality of older games since it can work with all Glide, Direct3D and OpenGL titles. 

All of the effects above will look excellent for in-engine cutscenes and location clues that show up in the Tomb Raider games.  I'm certain that developers will find great unintended uses for them too (I bet the blur effects will be great for ghostly encounters and simulated acid trips), but I feel 3dfx had a different reason for letting us know about the technology when they did. 

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