NVIDIA Wolfman Demo (2001) – The First Real-Time Fur Rendering on GeForce 4
21Step into the year 2001 with NVIDIA’s legendary Wolfman tech demo — a groundbreaking showcase for real-time fur rendering and advanced shader techniques of the early 2000s.
This demo featured:
• Real-time volumetric fur rendering
• Per-pixel anisotropic lighting via pixel shaders
• Matrix palette skinning with vertex shaders
• Fully self-shadowed models using shadow maps
In this video, I take a deep dive into the Wolfman demo, exploring how real-time fur rendering was achieved, and even dig through the original files to uncover the secrets behind NVIDIA’s early 3D magic. If you love retro PC graphics, classic tech demos, or GPU history, you won’t want to miss this.
🖥 ️ Links & extras below 👇
Learn more about the GeForce 4 & DirectX8:
🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_4_series.
🔗 https://web.archive.org/web/20100503034153/http://www.anandtech.com/show/875.
🔗 http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/gf4/index1.html.
🔗 https://www.evga.com/articles/images/11directx8.pdf.
🦖 Check out the NVIDIA Grass Demo:
• NVIDIA Grass Tech Demo (2000) – GeForce 25...
NVIDIA demos here:
🔗 https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/community/demos/
Deeper info on DX8 Shader programming and Matrix Palette Skining:
🔗 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2001/june/directx-8-0-enhancing-real-time-character-animation-with-matrix-palette-skinning-and-vertex-shaders
🔗 https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~bctill/papers/mocap/Davies_2004.pdf
🔗 https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/ARB/ARB_vertex_program.txt
🔗 https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/NV/NV_vertex_program.txt
🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARB_assembly_language
🔗 https://developer.download.nvidia.com/cg/arbvp1.html
📖 History of DirectX:
🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX
📖 History of NVIDIA:
🔗 https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/about-nvidia/corporate-timeline/
📖 More advanced grass rendering:
🔗 https://developer.nvidia.com/gpugems/gpugems/part-i-natural-effects/chapter-7-rendering-countless-blades-waving-grass
📖 NVIDIA Turf Effects (Gameworks DX11):
🔗 https://developer.nvidia.com/turfeffects
❓ 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 shadinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shading#Flat_shading..
❓ What is Gouraud shadinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouraud_shading...
❓ What is Phong shadihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_shadings...
❓ What other types of shading are thhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_shading_algorithmsof...
#NVIDIA #WolfmanDemo #TechDemo #RetroPCGaming #PCGamingHistory #GraphicsHistory #GeForce4 #RealTimeRendering #VolumetricFur #PixelShaders #VertexShaders #ShadowMapping #2000sGaming