Today I turn 44, and I can't help but reflect on how much things have changed in the last couple decades. When I was 22, I was at University, playing DOOM, and just getting involved in ray-traced rendering, using a text-based(!) modelling/rendering software called POV-ray.Today, I'm playing DOOM 2016 with amazingly realistic real-time graphics, and messing around with VR! I can't imagine what technology will look like when I'm into my 60s.Anyway, blast from the past--here's my first animation created in POV-ray, back when I was 26:

Happy birthday mate, all the best :smile: It is really amazing when you look back at all the stages of technology when you think it cant get any better and yet it continually does. ZX Spectrum>NES>SNES/Mega Drive>Playstation/Xbox Generations>VR. Can only imagine what will be available in 20-30 years time??EDIT:Didn't realise that was a video, very nice

Happy Birthday @nalex66, that animation stands up pretty well today!it doesn't seem that long ago when every computer shop window seemed to have demos of ray-traced chrome spheres bouncing around a monitor screen to show off how good the graphics were

Happy BDay from me, too. :smiley:What will happen? Well.... I vote for these ones. And yes, I would not care to be lost in Aincrad at all!

Happy birthday, nalex! I just turned 45 last month myself, and reminisce about those old days too. Playing the original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple //c until I had to get an hour of sleep before leaving for school again... those were the days!I never personally moved far beyond little turtle drawings in Pascal and some player-missile graphics on Ataris, but I must say your videos are very cool, even for today in my opinion!

Woohoo, my birthday present finally arrived, after being stuck in courier limbo all week!I decided that, once I get my GTX 1080, my PC is kind of overkill for 1080p gaming. Simple solution--upgrade my desktop! I bought myself a nice 32" 1440p monitor for my wife to give me, rather than her go out and buy me a sweater that I don't particularly want. Best way to get what you want--buy it yourself! Can't wait to get home and hook this baby up!

It's my birthday! | Meta Community Forums

19 Replies

mambo1888
Rising Star
10 years ago
Happy birthday mate, all the best :smile:

It is really amazing when you look back at all the stages of technology when you think it cant get any better and yet it continually does. ZX Spectrum>NES>SNES/Mega Drive>Playstation/Xbox Generations>VR. Can only imagine what will be available in 20-30 years time??

EDIT:

Didn't realise that was a video, very nice
DaftnDirect
MVP
10 years ago
Happy Birthday @nalex66, that animation stands up pretty well today!
it doesn't seem that long ago when every computer shop window seemed to have demos of ray-traced chrome spheres bouncing around a monitor screen to show off how good the graphics were
nalex66
MVP
10 years ago
Yeah, back when "computer shops" were a thing!
dreimer1986
Adventurer
10 years ago
Happy BDay from me, too. :smiley:
What will happen? Well.... I vote for these ones. And yes, I would not care to be lost in Aincrad at all!
nalex66
MVP
10 years ago
That reminds me of a movie I saw back in the 80's, Brainstorm. It starred Christopher Walken, and featured some people inventing a brainscan device that would allow experiences to be recorded and shared with others, sort of like direct-to-brain VR. Their first iteration was a huge helmet full of wires and gizmos, but their final version was a slim little headband. Kind of like the different iterations of the Rift!
dreimer1986
Adventurer
10 years ago
In that case it's from an Anime whose plot starts on 6. November 2022 called Sword Art Online.
DaftnDirect
MVP
10 years ago
I remember that film... some guy made a loop of the 'critical moment' of a VR sex scene that sent him crazy... why do I remember that scene more than the others?
nalex66
MVP
10 years ago
While I'm feeling nostalgic, here's another old animation. There was a lot of math involved in coding all the motions--it would have been no sweat using a more modern design package with inverse kinematics, but this was back before I had access to 3dsMax.
Zenbane
MVP
10 years ago
@nalex66 - well played. You're guaranteed Post of the Week for sure this time! lol
jademan
Heroic Explorer
10 years ago
Happy birthday, nalex! I just turned 45 last month myself, and reminisce about those old days too. Playing the original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple //c until I had to get an hour of sleep before leaving for school again... those were the days!

I never personally moved far beyond little turtle drawings in Pascal and some player-missile graphics on Ataris, but I must say your videos are very cool, even for today in my opinion!