GPU Nostalgia: Revisiting NVIDIA’s Chameleon from 2001
28Back in 2001, NVIDIA's Chameleon tech demo was a mind-blowing showcase of what the new GeForce3 GPU could do.
In this video, I take a nostalgic look at the nfiniteFX-powered chameleon, exploring the lighting, environment mapped reflections/refraction, and animation techniques that made this one of the most iconic demos of its time.
We’ll talk vertex shaders, pixel shaders, environment mapping, and how this demo pushed GPU rendering into a new era — all while a little green chameleon struts its stuff in glorious early-2000s style. 🦎✨
This was real-time graphics showing off in full bloom — and it still looks oddly beautiful today.
🖥 ️ Links & extras below 👇
Learn more about the nfiniteFX architecture & GeForce3:
🔗 https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/feature-pixelshader/.
🔗 https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce3.c738.
🦖 Check out my X-Isle video:
• X-Isle: Crytek's Primordial Beginnings 🦖
NVIDIA demos here:
🔗 hhttps://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/community/demos/
📖 History of DirectX:
🔗 hhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX
📖 History of NVIDIA:
🔗 hhttps://www.nvidia.com/en-us/about-nvidia/corporate-timeline/
❓ What is bump mapping?
🔗 https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/Help/iClone3STD/15_Multiple_Channel_Texture_Mapping/Types_of_maps.htm
🔗 https://studylib.net/doc/5718914/emboss-bump-mapping
🔗 https://help.autodesk.com/view/ARNOL/ENU/?guid=arnold_user_guide_ac_legacy_standard_ac_bump_mapping_html
❓ What is Flat shading?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shading#Flat_shading.
❓ What is Gouraud shadinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouraud_shading..
❓ What is Phong shadinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_shading...
❓ What other types of shading are thehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_shading_algorithmsf...
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