Voxel
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In
In contrast to pixels and voxels, polygons are often explicitly represented by the coordinates of their vertices (as points). A direct consequence of this difference is that polygons can efficiently represent simple 3D structures with much empty or homogeneously filled space, while voxels excel at representing regularly sampled spaces that are non-homogeneously filled.
Voxels are frequently used in the
One of the definitions is:
Voxel is an image of a three-dimensional space region limited by given sizes, which has its own nodal point coordinates in an accepted coordinate system, its own form, its own state parameter that indicates its belonging to some modeled object, and has properties of modeled region.
This definition has the following advantage. If fixed voxel form is used within the whole model it is much easier to operate with voxel nodal points (i.e. three coordinates of this point). Yet, there is the simple form of record: indexes of the elements in the model set (i.e. integer coordinates). Model set elements in this case are state parameters, indicating voxel belonging to the modeled object or its separate parts, including their surfaces.[2]
Etymology
The word voxel originated by analogy to "pixel", with vo representing "volume" (instead of pixel's "picture") and el representing "element";[3] a similar formation with el for "element" is the word "texel".[3] The term hypervoxel is a generalization of voxel for
Rendering
A volume described as voxels can be visualized either by direct volume rendering or by the extraction of polygon iso-surfaces that follow the contours of given threshold values. The marching cubes algorithm is often used for isosurface extraction, however other methods exist as well.
Both ray tracing and ray casting, as well as rasterisation, can be applied to voxel data to obtain 2D raster graphics to depict on a monitor.
Incremental error rasterisation
Another technique for voxels involves raster graphics where one simply raytraces every pixel of the display into the scene, tracking an
Gallery
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3D rendering of a μCT scan of a leaf piece, resolution circa 40 μm/voxel when viewed at the full size
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A (smoothed) rendering of a data set of voxels for a macromolecule
Data
A voxel represents a single sample, or data point, on a regularly spaced, three-dimensional grid. This data point can consist of a single piece of data, such as an opacity, or multiple pieces of data, such as a color in addition to opacity. A voxel represents only a single point on this grid, not a volume; the space between each voxel is not represented in a voxel-based dataset. Depending on the type of data and the intended use for the dataset, this missing information may be reconstructed and/or approximated, e.g. via interpolation.
The value of a voxel may represent various properties. In
Voxels can contain multiple
While voxels provide the benefit of precision and depth of reality, they are typically large data sets and are unwieldy to manage given the bandwidth of common computers. However, through efficient compression and manipulation of large data files, interactive visualization can be enabled on consumer market computers.
Other values may be useful for immediate 3D
Technologies to extend voxels into 4 and 5 dimensions of data are under investigation.[13]
Uses
Common uses of voxels include volumetric imaging in medicine and representation of terrain in games and simulations. Voxel terrain is used instead of a heightmap because of its ability to represent overhangs, caves, arches, and other 3D terrain features. These concave features cannot be represented in a heightmap due to only the top 'layer' of data being represented, leaving everything below it filled (the volume that would otherwise be the inside of the caves, or the underside of arches or overhangs).
Computer games
- 3D Dot Game Heroes uses voxels to present retro-looking graphics.
- 7 Days to Die is a voxel-based open world survival horror game developed by The Fun Pimps Entertainment.
- Ace of Spades used Ken Silverman's Voxlap engine before being rewritten in a bespoke OpenGL engine.
- Amok uses voxels for its environments.[14]
- Novalogicthat used voxel-based rendering technology.
- Blade Runner is a video game that used voxels to render characters and artifacts.
- Castle Story, a castle building Real Time Strategy game in development, has terrain consisting of smoothed voxels.
- Cloudpunk, a cyberpunk adventure game, is almost entirely voxel-based.
- Comanche series, a series of computer games made by NovaLogic that used the Voxel Space voxel rasterization for terrain rendering.[15]
- Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge are computer games made by Westwood Studios that used voxels to render most vehicles.
- heightmapsand voxels for their terrain systems.
- Cube World, an action role-playing game, features procedurally generated voxel landscapes.
- Novalogic that used the in-house Voxel Spacerendering engine.
- Dual Universe is a single-shard universe MMORPG game that uses voxels to build spaceships, civilizations, and space stations.
- Ensrouded is Voxel based survival RPG. Releases on Feb 2023 by Keen Games
- Sony Online Entertainment, make extensive use of voxels for world creation as well as player generated content
- Hexplore, a multi-player role playing game, uses a voxel engine allowing the player to rotate the isometric rendered playfield.
- Hypixel Studios and gets funded by Riot Games.
- Master of Orion III uses voxel graphics to render space battles and solar systems. Battles displaying 1000 ships at a time were rendered slowly on computers without hardware graphic acceleration.
- Medieval Engineers is the second voxel-based engineering game by Keen Software House inspired from medieval technology.
- Minecraft is a sandbox video game that uses voxels to store terrain data,[16] but does not use voxel rendering techniques. Instead it uses polygon rendering to display each voxel as a cubic "block".[17]
- Moonglow Bay is a fishing role-playing video game, released in 2021 and developed by Bunnyhug, using voxel art style.
- Miner Wars 2081 is a 6DOF open world game made by Keen Software House that uses its own VRage voxel rendering engine to let the user deform the terrain of asteroids allowing tunnels to be formed.
- Nivalis is an upcoming cyberpunk slice-of-life, set in voxel-based world, previously featured in Cloudpunk.
- No Man's Sky is a space exploration game consisting of procedurally generated star systems containing explorable planets, moons and asteroids made up of voxels. The voxel engine allows for both terrain destruction and creation.
- Outcast, is a third-person action computer game made by former Belgian video game developer Appeal,[18] with landscapes rendered by a voxel engine.
- Phase Zero is a 2002 unreleased action-shooter video game for Atari Jaguar, with landscapes redered by the engine Voxel Space.
- Planet Coaster is a 2016 construction and management simulation developed and published by Frontier Developments which uses a voxel-based terrain editor.[19]
- Resogun is a 2013 voxel-based side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Finnish developer Housemarque.
- Roblox uses voxels for terrain, as well as for primitive global illumination and shadows.
- Robocraft, a vehicular combat game in which players build combat machines out of voxels and premade components
- Build engine for first-person shooter game voxel rendering, instead of sprites, as an option for many of the items pickups and scenery. Duke Nukem 3Dhas a fan-created pack in a similar style.
- Shattered Steel featured deforming landscapes using voxel technology.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri uses voxel models to render units.
- SkySaga: Infinite Isles is a voxel-based sandbox MMORPG, being developed by Radiant Worlds and published by Smilegate.
- Space Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox game set in space, developed and published by Keen Software House
- Starbase, a voxel-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in space, being developed and published by Frozenbyte.
- StarMade, a voxel-based sandbox game set in space, developed and published by Robin "Schema" Promesberger.
- Teardown, a voxel-based game featuring fully destructible environments, developed and published by the studio Tuxedo Labs
- The Sandbox
- Trove is a voxel-based MMORPG with building elements, developed and published by Trion Worlds.[20]
- Vangers is a computer game uses voxels for its two-level terrain system.[21]
- Veloren, is an action-adventure role-playing game set in a vast fantasy world.[22]
- Vox, released in 2012, is a voxel based exploration/RPG game focused on player generated content.
- Novalogicthat used voxel-based rendering technology. It was originally bundled and shipped with the Comanche 2 game although they were two separate games.
- Worms 4: Mayhem uses a voxel-based engine to simulate land deformation similar to the older 2D Worms games.
- Minetest uses them for rendering nodes
Editors
While scientific volume visualization does not require modifying the actual voxel data, voxel editors can be used to create art (especially 3D pixel art) and models for voxel based games. Some editors are focused on a single approach to voxel editing while others mix various approaches. Some common approaches are:
- Slice based: The volume is sliced in one or more axes and the user can edit each image individually using 2D raster editor tools. These generally store color information in voxels.
- Sculpture: Similar to the vector counterpart but with no topology constraints. These usually store density information in voxels and lack color information.
- Building blocks: The user can add and remove blocks just like a construction set toy.
There are a few voxel editors available that are not tied to specific games or engines. They can be used as alternatives or complements to traditional 3D vector modeling.
Extensions
A generalization of a voxel is the toxel, or temporal voxel.[25] This is used in the case of a 4D dataset, for example, an image sequence that represents 3D space together with another dimension such as time. In this way, an image could contain 100×100×100×100 toxels, which could be seen as a series of 100 frames of a 100×100×100 volume image (the equivalent for a 3D image would be showing a 2D cross section of the image in each frame). Although storage and manipulation of such data requires large amounts of memory, it allows the representation and analysis of spacetime systems.
See also
- Maxel– material element
- Pixel – picture element
- Plane partition
- Resel – resolution element
- Sparse voxel octree
- Texel – texture element
- Tixel - tactile element
- Tomography
- Volume mesh
- Volume rendering
References
- doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.07.007. Preprint download: "Estimating outdoor advertising media visibility with voxel-based approach (PDF Download Available)". Archivedfrom the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
- .
- ^ ISBN 978-0-201-12110-0.
These cells are often called voxels (volume elements), in analogy to pixels.
- ^ "Voxels". tnlc.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-17.
- ^ Outcast manual. Infogrames. 1999. p. 34.
- ISSN 0724-8679.
- ^ "OUTCAST – Technology: Paradise". archive.org. 7 May 2006. Archived from the original on 7 May 2006.
- ^ a b "Voxel terrain engine Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine", introduction. In a coder's mind, 2005.
- ^ "A Little Bit Of History – Next-Gen 3D Rendering Technology: Voxel Ray Casting". tomshardware.com. 21 October 2009.
- ^ "Kyle G. Freeman Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications – Justia Patents Search". justia.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.
- ^ "FlightSim.Com – NovaLogic Awarded Patent For Voxel Space Graphics Engine". flightsim.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.
- ISBN 0-674-83339-2.
- ^ Society, The Optical. "High-speed laser writing method could pack 500 terabytes of data into CD-sized glass disc". phys.org. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
- ^ "Review Crew: Amok". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 93. Ziff Davis. April 1997. p. 53.
- ^ "A brief history of Voxel games. | DjArcas's Blog". Archived from the original on 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
- ^ "Chunk format: Block format". Minecraft Wiki. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ "Tutorials/Units of measure: Distance". Minecraft Wiki. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ "Appeal S.A. - MobyGames". mobygames.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-19.
- ^ Zak, Robert (4 April 2016). ""There's never been a better time": Planet Coaster rides to meet the demand for deep simulation games". Archived from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
- ^ "Trove – A Voxel MMO Adventure from Trion Worlds". trovegame.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-22.
- ^ "VANGERS". kdlab.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- ^ "Veloren". Veloren.net. Archived from the original on 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
- ^ Ars Technica (14 January 2011). "We <3 voxels: why Voxatron is an exciting indie shooter". Archived from the original on 2011-10-13.
- ^ "Lexaloffle BBS :: Voxatron". lexaloffle.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-08. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
- S2CID 519623.